Naruto of Chaos
by jean010
Summary: A man that searches for redemption. A child who's family neglects him. A change in fate that will shock the Elemental Nations to the core. This is the tale of two people that will change everything, one as a teacher and the other one as a student. NarutoxHarem. Neglected!Naruto. Strong!Naruto. Fem!Sasuke. Crossover with Fairy Tail. Other minor Crossovers
1. Prologue

Naruto of Chaos

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Monster/Gods/Other beings speech

**'Kurama'** Summons/Monster/Gods/Other beings thoughts

"_**Rasengan**_" Techniques/Terms

**Update 27/08/14: Thanks to Sylaurias for fixing this chapter**

**Prologue:**

**A Dark Mage's Fate and a deal with the Devil**

Death. Such a simple word and yet such a powerful term. Some people would say that death is the end for every living being, while others would say that death is nothing but a new beginning, the start of a new adventure, but a few people will tell you that death is a release, a way to escape the sins and the pain that someone commits on you, or the pain that you have on mankind.

One such person would have to be the man that right now is floating in a place that could only be described as a void of nothingness, after all the only thing that could be seen was darkness.

Going back to the man that was floating in this endless void, he's a young man with a face that could be considered handsome, with black short hair and black eyes with a small circle-shaped necklace around his neck. He wears high-collared black and tan robes with gold trim, along with a large, flowing white toga draped around his torso. For people that do not know who this man is he would be seem odd, but for those that do know him his simple presence can cause panic in the heart of the bravest warriors. This is a man whose name would be recorded in history as one of the most powerful and evil beings in existence. This is the monster known as The Dark Lord Zeref.

'Is this place where my soul will finally rest?' Was the thought going in Zeref;s mind just before his mind went back to the memories of all the sins that he caused to the world; of all the pain his own creation caused and how that same creation ended his sad life

"E.N.D... such a cursed existence... you might never forgive me, but I am truly sorry...Natsu" said the powerful mage softly before simply closing his eyes and accepting his fate of everlasting nothingness in the void where he's floating is.

**"Would you like a chance to correct you sins, Zeref?"** spoke a powerful voice that seemed to echoe everywhere. Zeref's eyes opened fast in surprise; after all he thought he was going to be in this void alone for ever.

"Who are you?" asked Zeref, his voice dull, but with a slight amount of curiosity in it

**"I have had a lot of names dark mage. Some see me as evil itself, while others believe I am a necessary force, but I am neither. I'm what your kind would call a god. I am the Shinigami"** once again spoke the ominous voice, making Zeref's eyes widen in surprise for just a second after finding out the identity of said voice.

"I see... did you came here to punish my soul for the deeds of my creations and my own set of wrong acts?" spoke Zeref softly, already resigned to whatever punishment the god of death would give him, after all he himself knew that he deserved every single punishment that this god could give him

**"That is the task that Kami gave me. However it is not normal for me to pay special attention to anyone's soul, but for you, someone whose evil deeds brought the complete destruction of his own world, I was tasked to curse your soul and give you eternal punishment"** spoke the Shinigami, his voice completely devoid of emotion. Zeref was more than ready for something like that, so the announcement didn't surprise him at all, but the next word of the Shinigami actually did.

**"However, unlike my foolish sister who sees you as nothing but a mistake, I see someone that could be of use to me"** said the god of death, making Zeref wonder what this god was talking about, wasn't he going to be punished?

"What are you speaking about?

**"I'm saying that there is a way for you to atone for your sins in a more... useful way than by just punishing you, Zeref"** said the Shinigami, waiting to see if the little human would accept his offer

"There is? No, such a way cannot exist; my sins are too many and too big for me to redeem myself. Don't joke with me, Shinigami" said Zeref with a little of emotion actually surging in his voice: anger. After all he was thinking that this god of death was just joking with him just to postpone his punishment so he could enjoy himself.

**"Don't forget with whom you are speaking to, human. Do you think I would waste my precious time with you like this? I could just send your soul to eternal punishment and be done with you, but I find you too useful for that, so I'm making you a proposition, you can either accept your fate and suffer for all eternity for your deeds... or you can accept the task that I will give you so you can atone for your crimes"** spoke the Shinigami once again, actually hoping that the human would accept. After all, souls as interesting as his were not common. The Shinigami knew that by doing this he was disobeying an order from Kami herself, but he did not care, he was tired of letting everything happening by itself, but he also knew that he could not mess with the humans unless they called him, which rarely happened anyway, so he needed a proxy in the human world; one that could change things for him, and who better than one like Zeref, whose powers in his world were second to none.

While the Shinigami was expecting an answer, Zeref could not stop himself from thinking about what the god of death had said. Was there really a way for Zeref to atone for his crimes? Suddenly a strange feeling made itself known in Zeref's heart, it was hope. Hope that there was really a way he could make amends for the countless of lives that his demons, E.N.D, and that he himself had destroyed. Hope that he would be able to find forgiveness if he does what the Shinigami asked of him.

**"What is your answer human? Will you right your wrongs or will you let your soul to be cursed forever?"** Asked the Shinigami one last time, expecting a positive answer from this little Dark Lord

"I... if such a way is truly possible then... I'll do it, I'll do anything in my power, even if I'm never forgiven for my acts I still want to try... to try and find peace with myself" spoke Zeref, this time his voice having more passion that he had never shown in his life. Suddenly the space around him turned completely cold, just as a ghostly creature began to form. Said creature was bigger than him, with long white hair and with a face that could only be described as demonic, and with a tanto between his fangs. It only took Zeref a second to identify the creature as the Shinigami himself; after all he doubted that any other being could appear in this place. But just before he could say anything, the newly formed Shinigami said the words that would start a change that no one could predict.

**"Very well Zeref, destroyer of his own world, creator of E.N.D. Are you ready to change the strings of fate itself?"**

The answer could not have been more obvious in Zeref's mind

"Yes"

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Konohagakure no Sato, 9 years after the Kyubi attack_

9 years have passed since that horrible night where the powerful Bijuu known as the Kyubi no Yoko attacked the village of Konoha, destroying it almost completely and killing a big part of its population. It was only thanks to the actions of the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, that the beast was defeated. The Yondaime knew that killing a Bijuu was almost impossible, so he did the only other thing that could defeat it. He sealed it in the body of a newborn child.

The Yondaime, being the person he is, could not bring himself to ask any other family to sacrifice their children, so with a heavy heart he sealed the Bijuu (Tailed Beast) in his new born triplets, the Ying part of its chakra was sealed into his only daughter, Uzumaki-Namikaze Mito, meanwhile the Yang part of the chakra was sealed in the youngest of the newborn triplets, Uzumaki-Namikaze Menma.

For such an incredible feat the Yondaime had to use the powerful _**Shiki Fujin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal)**_, summoning the Shinigami himself and asking him to split the Kyubi in exchange for his own soul. Minato was more than ready to give his own life to protect the village he loves, knowing that his wife, Uzumaki Kushina, would have been able to take care of the children even without him, so imagine his surprise when the Shinigami just brushed him off, telling him that for this job, a payment of the soul was not needed. The user of the _**Hiraishin no jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)**_ was more than happy to be able to live with his family, not knowing of the Shinigami's true intentions.

That same day the Yondaime made the announcement that the village was saved thanks to his two children, Menma and Mito, since they were able to contain the chakra of the mighty beast. Minato told the whole village that his children were heroes and should not be treated as some sort of reincarnated Kyubi. The village was fast to accept that. They had complete trust in the words of their precious Yondaime, and started calling Menma and Mito the "Saviors of Konoha".

Now, 9 years after that tragedy, this day was not one full of sadness and grief, but one of joy and celebration. After all not only there was there a huge festival in honor of the defeat of the Kyubi, but it was also the birthdays of the saviors of Konoha. Everywhere around the village people were celebrating, but the true party was at the Namikaze-Uzumaki residence, where the young Mito and Menma, now 9 years of age, were having their birthday party.

The house of the Namikaze-Uzumaki clan was not as big as the other clan houses, but it was big enough to keep all the guests that showed up to the party. These guests were the heads of every important clan of the village along with the next heirs of said clans, and some important people to the family, such as Kakashi Hatake, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Jiraiya and Tsunade Senju of the Sannin.

The party was going at full blast and everyone was having a good time, but the ones that were most happy were of course Menma and Mito. Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze could only be described as a miniature version of Minato, with his spiky blond hair and blue eyes, although his personality was more like that of his mother, Kushina Uzumaki. After all, it was hard for the boy to not pull a prank at someone when he could. In contrast to him his sister, Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze, is a carbon copy of her mother, with long red hair that reached to the middle of her back and violet eyes. Although her personality was more like Minato, calm and collected. Alongside the two birthday kids was another little girl, this one looking like she was 6 or 7 years of age. She had red hair just like her sister, with the only difference being that hers was put into twin-tails, and she has blue eyes, just like her father. This girl is no other that the fourth child of the Namikaze-Uzumaki household, Natsumi Uzumaki-Namikaze. The youngest red head was nothing short of a bundle of joy, always having fun with her family and with a smile on her face all the time.

Yes, if someone were to look at this scene they would think that they are the perfect family, but of course nothing is perfect. After all, nobody noticed that the third birthday boy was nowhere near the house.

NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC

_Meanwhile, on the Hokage Monument_

While everyone else was having a great time, one small child had nothing but sadness and pain in his heart. This small kid had blonde spiky hair and sky-blue eyes, with 3 whisker mark on each cheek, giving him a unique look. The blond was wearing a black shirt with the symbol of his clan on the back, a red spiral, and white shorts. This boy was none other than the third Uzumaki-Namikaze child, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze.

You might be asking why someone like him is here alone, and with so much sadness in his heart. Well the answer to that is simple, once again, just like every year, his family has forgotten about him; celebrating the birthday of his brother and sister but not his.

'Why? Why does this keep happening? Why did my family forget about my birthday again? Why do they never notice me? do... do they hate me?' were the thoughts that the young blond was having in his mind right now, some tears falling from his eyes just from thinking of his family hating him.

Since he could remember, his family always treated him differently. While his brother and sister were always praised with almost anything they did by their parents, he barely got them to acknowledge him. They always ignore him, and while Menma and Mito had already started their ninja training, he has not, and every time he asked for it he would get the same answer from each of his parents "We must focus on training your sibling in controlling the Kyubi's chakra, so we can't teach you"

When his little sister was born he thought that he would finally have someone that would treat him like family, but sadly that did not happen. After all Natsumi was able to use the Uzumaki Chakra Chains, something that only his mother could do, so his parents decided to start her training sooner, and now he was the only one that was excluded from the family training time.

It was not only his mother and father that ignored him, his siblings were even worse. Menma was always a brat to him, telling him how weak he was and that his parents loved him more. His sister Mito would always be cold towards him. She started being like that 2 years ago and now she barely speaks to him and when she does, it is only just a few words. His little sister, Natsumi, was more annoying than anything, always bragging to him about every cool thing that she learned with their mother or father and acting like a spoiled child.

It was not only his family that had forgotten him, but the village as a whole has forgotten that he was too a part of that family. Some of the more stupid villagers treated him like he was the Kyubi reincarnated because of his whisker marks

Naruto was so focused in the thought in his thoughts about his family that he did not register the sounds of someone walking towards him until said someone spoke to him in a soft and emotionless voice

"What are you doing here kid?" spoke the person, making Naruto jump in surprise, not expecting anyone here at this hour. When he looked at the man the first thing that came to mind was that his clothes were weird, and that his hair and eyes made him look like an Uchiha. It took some seconds for Naruto to actually register the question in his mind, but when he did he answered with a voice full of sadness

"I have nowhere else to be" Naruto did not know why he was answering, but he just felt that this weird looking man was not going to harm him, unlike some of the villagers that sometimes hit him

"Don't you have a family that's waiting for you? It's late after all" asked the man softly, his black eyes focused on the child and nothing else. Of course he already knew the answer, having watched the boy interact with his family for a while, but he wanted to kid himself to respond, just to see exactly how much pain he had in his heart.

"I do have a family but... they don't care about me, they never have, they even forget about my birthday every year... no one cares about me" said Naruto, his voice full of hurt and his eyes had some tears, showing the man that he was right. The pain caused by his family was too much for the young kid, and now it was his time to act

"I see... no one should have to live like that, especially a child like you" said the man before putting his hand on the boy's head, making said kid look at him with a face now with more surprise than sadness, but before Naruto could ask him anything the man spoke again

"Tell me Naruto-kun..." Said blonde was even more surprised about this man actually knowing him "... would you like to change your life?" asked the man softly, his black eyes looking directly into Naruto's blue ones. Naruto felt like this man was staring directly into his soul.

"W-what are you talking about?" asked Naruto, his voice full of doubt, but for some reason he found himself not afraid of this man, like he knew that this man was not going to harm him in any way.

"I'm asking you if you would like to change, Naruto-kun. Would you like to be strong enough to never feel so weak in your life? Would you like to have someone that would care for you so that you would never have to be alone, Naruto-kun?" These words made Naruto look at the man like he was insane, but you could still see a little glint of hope in those blue eyes.

"I-I can change like that?" asked Naruto, looking at the black haired man like he has all the answers in the world.

"Of course you can, Naruto-kun, we can always change, but that path is never easy, I'm asking you again Naruto-kun, do you want to stay like this, being treated like nothing from your family and like a monster by this village, or would you like to become something more?" asked the man, knowing that the next word that the young blonde would say will be crucial.

Meanwhile Naruto's mind was racing. This man right here was offering him a chance to never feel so weak and alone again. While a part of him was telling him that you can't trust in someone you barely know and that if he stayed with his family then they would change. Another bigger part wanted nothing more but to accept this man's offer. So it was with that mentality that the young Uzumaki-Namikaze answered

"I want to... change, I want to show my family that I can be strong too, that I'm not useless, I want to prove myself that I can become someone!" spoke Naruto, his voice overflowing with conviction, causing the man to get a little smile, before his face returned to his neutral look, fast enough that Naruto was not able to see it

"Very well... then from now on I'll teach you everything I know, but it's only up to you if you learn it" spoke the man just before crouching and putting a hand on the floor. Naruto looked at him weirdly for that, but he was too happy to finally have someone that would teach him how to be strong to really care, but one thought stopped him right in his tracks

"Wait... sensei, I don't know your name" said Naruto, just remembering now that his new sensei never introduced himself

"I'm sorry, I forgot. I have had many names and titles Naruto-kun but you can just call me..." just as the man was about to say his name, a strange black circle appeared under both Naruto and the man. Naruto would have freaked out, but he was too surprised for that, after all he had never heard of any jutsu like this, but his attention went from the circle to the man just before he muttered the name that would always stay in his memory

"...Zeref"

And with that they disappeared in a black flash.


	2. What it Means to Learn From a Dark Mage

Naruto of Chaos

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama' **Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

_**"Rasengan"**_ Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**AN: This chapter will answer some doubt you may have about the things Naruto is going to learn. **

**Disclaimer: I forgot to put this in the prologue so here it goes. I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail in any source of way, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Hiro Mashima**

**Chapter 1:**

**What it means to learn from a dark mage**

_Konohagakure no Sato, 11 years after the Kyubi attack_

If someone where to tell anyone in Konoha that in a hidden part of the Hokage Monument existed a magical circle that, when activated with magic, will send you to a secret training area that not even the Hokage known's about, they will probably believe that the person was going crazy, and that things like magic did not exist

Sadly for them, such a place does exist. Said place was big, but really simple, with nothing but walls of stone, and a big magical circle that covered the whole floor of the room. The place was illuminated by torches that were in every wall since no sun light reached this training room.

Right now, there were only two persons in this room. They were the same guys that have been training here for two years already. One of the figures was a tall man with black hair and black eyes and clothes that other people would consider weird. This man is known as Zeref, and right now he was watching the other figure that had spent a really big part of the last two year in this same training room

Said figure was definitely male, with spiky blond hair with two bangs framing his face, with deep blue eyes and whisker marks in each cheek. This boy was wearing something simple in comparison with his sensei: a simple long-sleeve black shirt that had a symbol on his back that looked like the head of a dragon in silver color. He was also wearing black cargo pants and blue ninja sandals. He was tall for a boy of his age and he had an athletic body born out of the training he had been doing for the last two years. This boy's name was none other that Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, first son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki and of course, apprentice of the dark lord Zeref.

Right now Naruto was crouching and breathing hard, his clothes has some holes here end there and he was sweating like there was no tomorrow. This was the normal state that the young blonde had every time he spared with his sensei; meanwhile Zeref looked completely perfect, like if nothing had happened, showing the abysmal difference in skill these two had.

"Are you ready to take a break, Naruto-kun?" asked softly Zeref, his voice still emotionless as ever. The dark mage already knew the answer to this question tough, after all his apprentice was the type that would train until his body could no longer move.

"No... I can still go on...sensei" Said Naruto between breaths while slowly getting up, ready to keep sparring with his sensei, although in his opinion this was more like a one-sided beat down since he could never land a hit on his sensei, and when he did Zeref would just brush him off like nothing happened.

"If you say so..."said Zeref, just before moving at a speed to fast for Naruto to see and kneeing him and the stomach, making the young blonde fall again with his hand in his stomach, while trying to get some air in his lungs.

"You should know when to rest already, even tough your dedication is admirable, sometimes it becomes more stupid than anything" Said Zeref bluntly, getting a groan of annoyance from Naruto. The dark mage went back to the center of the field and started meditating while his apprentice rolled on his back, his body full of pain and that last hit did not help at all.

"It has been two years already and yet you refuse to rest when I tell you... you're too stubborn for your own good" said once again Zeref, making his apprentice attention go from the ceiling to him.

'That's right... is has been two years since I meet him" thought Naruto, remembering that fateful day in which he accepted to be Zeref apprentice. That thought made Naruto smile, remembering the first day of training with Zeref and the revelation that he was what people in his world called a mage.

Yes, that was definitely a day he would never forget

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_2 years ago, the day after the Kyubi Festival_

_Naruto woke up with a groan, feeling like yesterday was the best birthday he ever had, which probably was considering that he had finally met someone that actually cared for him and was giving him a chance to become strong._

_That thought made Naruto jump out of bed as fast as someone of his age could, and start looking around the place he was, which was obviously not his bedroom. This room was really simply, having just a bed, a desk, a closet and two doors, one of which led him to a bathroom. The young blonde got out of the room and ended up in a long hallway that was illuminated by some torches_

_'This is really creepy' thought Naruto, wondering if his new sensei really lived in this weird place. After a few seconds of walking Naruto ended up in a really big room, also illuminated by torches, and with a weird looking circle covering the floor completely. However before the young Uzumaki could say anything a voice he was really happy to hear sounded behind him_

_"It seems you're finally awake Naruto-kun, good, there are some things I need to tell you before we start doing anything" said Zeref with his normal emotionless voice, making Naruto wonder what was he going to tell him. He just really hoped that training with this man was a good idea, after all Zeref was still a stranger to him, but he just felt like he could trust him, so with shaky steps he followed his new sensei to the center of the big room, in which Zeref just took a seat on the floor and stated meditating while Naruto just stood there waiting some something to be said._

_After some really awkward minutes Naruto decided to break the ice himself "So... Zeref-Sensei when are you going to teach me how to be a ninja" asked the young blonde, a little more energetic by the prospect of becoming a strong ninja, however that dream was basically crushed by Zeref next words_

_"I'm not going to teach you how to be a ninja Naruto-kun" said Zeref softly, opening his eyes to see his new apprentice's reaction, and just like he guessed Naruto's reactions was priceless. His eyes were completely wide while his mouth opened and closed, but no words came out of it. It was only after a minute that the young blonde was able to calm himself enough to be able to speak, although his voice came out like a squeak_

_"W-what do you m-mean by that Sensei?! You told me you were going to teach me everything you know! Or was that nothing but a lie?!' All but yelled Naruto, pointing at Zeref with his finger like he had caught him red-handed doing something bad. The dark mage could only sigh at his apprentice reaction, although he supposed it was normal for a young boy to yell at like that when upset about something, it did not mean he had to like it._

_"Yes, I told you that I would teach you everything I know, but I never said that I would teach you how to be a ninja, did I?" _

_"B-but what are you going to teach me then?!" once again yelled Naruto, although Zeref's answer sure shut him up_

_"I'm going to teach you magic" answered Zeref bluntly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world._

_Complete silence. Whatever Naruto was going to say died in his throat thanks to Zeref's words. For a moment neither sensei nor student said anything, just looking at the other without even blinking. But of course it was the young blonde the one that had to break the ice again_

_"Was that supposed to be a joke? Because if it was, it was a really bad one sensei" deadpanned Naruto, looking at his new teacher like he has lost his mind. Zeref could only sigh again at this reaction, but he supposed that again, it was a normal, he will just have to prove what he was talking about._

_"Perhaps a little demonstration is needed" said Zeref just before extending his arm and opening his palm and before Naruto could even say anything again about his sensei mental status a little ball black as night appeared in Zeref's hand. Naruto was completely amazed by that, and then he was even more surprise when Zeref threw the black ball to one of the walls. As soon as the black mass of magic impacted with the wall a big explosion that rocked everything occurred, lifting a lot of smoke from the impacted wall. When the smoke cleared itself Naruto could see that the wall had a big whole right at the middle and big cracks all around the wall itself_

_"W-what kind of jutsu was that" asked Naruto, thinking that the spell had to be some sort of strange just that his sensei had created_

_"That was not a jutsu Naruto-kun, it was magic" answered Zeref, preparing himself to answer the many question that Naruto was going to have_

_"B-but that's impossible, magic is not real!...right?" refuted Naruto, sounding a little doubtful at the end. Zeref sighed one again and motioned Naruto to sit at the floor_

_"This might take a while Naruto-kun, but I will explain everything to you"_

_And explain he did. Zeref told Naruto _everything, _from how he was from another world and was brought here to redeem himself to how magic worked in his world, meanwhile Naruto was giving Zeref his full attention, something asking a question or making comments about certain things. Even tough Zeref didn't want to lie to his new apprentice he decided to not tell him about his world's destruction by the hands of his own creation, at least not for know, fearing a little bit the reaction that the young boy may have and that he might ended up fearing magic, or worst, Zeref himself._

_By the end of the tale Zeref had to admit that he was impressed by Naruto's ability of understanding, not only he understood everything Zeref said, but he also made some pretty deep comments about magic itself. _

_After the whole explanation was told, Zeref just stood there, waiting to see if Naruto was going to ask anything else, which of course the blonde did after thinking for a few seconds._

_"But sensei, how am I going to learn magic when I don't have a magic container in my body?" Asked Naruto, still thinking about everything Zeref had just said. He had to admit that his story sounded really crazy, but since he did demonstrated some magic while explaining he really had no other choice but to believe it. Although that did not meant that the young blonde did not have many more question, like what did his sensei in his old world that was so bad for him to want to redeem himself, and how exactly was he sent to this world?. Naruto really wanted some of those questions answered, but he decided not to ask, thinking that his sensei was not ready to tell him that, so he would wait as much a he could for those answers._

_"You're correct Naruto-kun; people in this world can never learn how to use magic since they don't have a magic container filled with magical power, just like I can't use any jutsu since I don't have any chakra in me. There is also the fact that this world doesn't have __**Etherano**__, which is necessary to be able to refill a mage's magic container after using magic" Answered Zeref, not worry at all about this problems since he had already a plan for Naruto to use magic, although it might take a while for that to work._

_"B-but then how I'm I going to learn it if I can't use it? And if there is no __**Etherano**__ in this world then how are you refilling your magical container sensei?" asked Naruto one again_

_"Don't worry about that Naruto-kun, I promise that when the time is right you will be able to use magic, just leave it to me. And about your second question, I have found that there exist a third type of chakra in this world that comes from nature itself, and after a lot of trial and error I was able to use said natural energy to refill my magic container by meditating" Answered Zeref, thinking about some of the most... weird thing that happened when he was experimenting with natural energy_

_Those were days that the dark lord was going to take to his grave_

_"Then what are you going to teach me now?"_

_"We'll start first by training your body, mind and spirit Naruto-kun. Let me remind you Naruto-kun, that once we start the is no going back, understood?" said Zeref just before the big magical circle that was on the floor flashed with energy, illuminating the hole room with purple light. Naruto watched the circle surprised, but then his gaze went to his sensei's eyes, knowing that this men was analyzing him completely, seeing if he was going to doubt or have a second guess. But the young blonde had already decided that he was going to become strong, it did not matter if he learned magic instead of jutsus, so that he could prove everyone, and more important, himself, that he was not useless and that he could be strong even without his family's help. So it was with nothing but determination in his eyes that the young soon to be mage answered his sensei's question_

_"Yes!"_

_And the training begun_

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

Remembering that day made Naruto start thinking about the training regime that his sensei made for him, for starters every day after breakfast, which Naruto always ate alone in his bedroom before his family woke up, he would run to the Hokage monument where Zeref would be waiting for him to activate the magical circle and teleport them both his secret training room. There they would simply start training: From Mondays to Wednesday they will do nothing but physical training developed not only for Naruto's physical condition to be top-notch, but also to make sure that his reflexes and pain tolerance were at the top too. To make things harder Naruto's cloths had a spell that would make them feel a lot heavier that they really were, and he was not allowed to take them off while he was in this training room. Now on Thursday and Fridays it would be northing but combat training, in which Zeref would teach him his own combat style along with other styles that he knew just to see which style suited Naruto better, and after that the two of them would spar, meaning Zeref would kick Naruto's ass like no tomorrow while the blonde complained about how unfair that was. Zeref may not like to fight with his fist, but that did not meant he wasn't a master at hand-to-hand combat, something that Naruto's bruised body testify.

The last day of training, Saturday, was the most calm of them all, since the only thing that they did was play games like shoji, or Zeref would give his apprentice different war-like scenarios in which he had to find the best strategy to win. After that the both of them would sit and meditate, something that Naruto was not very good at the beginning, and every time he moved or made a sound Zeref would smack him in the head, something that got a lot of curses in return from his apprentice

Sundays would be Naruto's free day in which Zeref told him he could do anything, but he could not come to the training room that day, so Naruto normally spent it doing chakra exercises in some empty training ground, since Zeref told him that just because he would be learning magic it did not meant he should forget about jutsus completely, since being able to use both was an advantage that Naruto should not throw away, so Naruto spent a good part of his free day doing chakra control exercises and practicing some of the most easy jutsus like the _**Kawarimi no jutsu (Body Replacement Technique)**_, _**Bunshin no jutsu (Clone technique)**_ and _**Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique)**_ that he had read about in some scrolls that Zeref had given to him.

Naruto had to admit that he was a little skeptic at the beginning about using magic, since he did not have a magic container like his sensei, but those fears where whipped away by what Zeref did to him just a year after beginning his training

That was the day he became a mage after all!

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_1 year ago, Zeref's Training place_

_The young blonde known as Naruto was walking the hallway that leaded to the training room, wondering about what his sensei wanted, after all his sensei has never asked him to come on a Sunday, not once since they started training, so whatever is that he wanted, it was probably going to be big._

_The young apprentice finally reached the training room, and just as always his sensei was sitting in the middle, meditating. Naruto always wondered if Zeref did something else besides meditating and training him, since that the only things he has seen the man doing since the two of them meet._

_Just as Naruto stepped in the room he could feel the increased weight of his clothes, but at this point it didn't really bother him tough_

_'Which means they are going to become heavier soon' thought Naruto with a sigh, knowing that the first few days of that were going to be hell again. The young blonde approached his sensei and then he sat down, waiting for whatever Zeref's was going to tell him. Said dark mage opened his eyes and once again looked at his blonde apprentice eyes, but for Naruto it felt he was seeing his soul directly, just like when the two of them met. After a few seconds of just staring it was Zeref the first to talk, surprising Naruto a little bit_

_"Do you remember what I told you when you asked me about how you were going to use magic" asked Zeref softly, getting a nod of acceptance from Naruto_

_"Well I believe that you are finally ready Naruto-kun, so after this day you're going to be able to use magic like me" revealed Zeref, getting a surprised expression from Naruto, who was trying to compute what his sensei just told him in his brain._

_"Really?! But how?!" asked Naruto, hoping that this was not some kind of weird joke that his sensei was pulling off, although he had never seen Zeref telling a joke, or even laugh for that matter, but still there was a first time for everything_

_"I have created what you could call an artificial magical container Naruto-kun, it took me a while but I was successful in the end. Today I'm going to be fusing my creation with your body; making sure that you chakra network does not get damaged by the operation. That was one of the reason your training so far has been heavily physical, since if I had done this a year ago you would have probably died or got your chakra network completely destroyed." told him Zeref calmly, knowing that what he was about to do today could go easily wrong if it was not done with the best of his abilities._

_"How did you create something like that? and even if it works, the problem about filling that magical container with __**Etherano**__ still exists" said Naruto a lot more calmly that he truly felt, but it was thanks to Zeref teachings that he was able to control his emotions. Zeref had told him that it was an important part of the training, since magic was heavily based in a persons emotions, and that if he didn't learn how to not let his emotions run wild, magical accident could easily happen_

_"I created it by using the __**Black Arts**__, the epitome of dark magic. I won't tell you the specifics for creating it since the __**Black Arts**__ are one of the most powerful and obscure type of magic that exist, and someone as young as you should not know about them." Said Zeref, his emotionless voice hardening a little bit when talking about that type of dark magic, getting Naruto to flinch a little bit._

_"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but that type of magic is something that no one should have ever learnt, yet I did, and it has brought me nothing but despair since then... this is truly the first time I have made something with that magic that doesn't bring regret to my heart" Said Zeref softly, getting Naruto to calm down again, wondering about how powerful was that type of magic if even his sensei felt like that towards it._

_"Now about your second question, is true that, in theory, even if I put a magical container in your body it won't be able to fill itself since there is no __**Etherano**__ in this world. I was able to fix that tough. When I fuse the magical container with your body I'm going to alter your chakra network so that it fuels your magical container, and since this magical container is a creation of my own, I made so that it will turn the chakra it gets into magical power, making you able to use magic" Said Zeref, making his apprentice's eyes to go wide in surprise and awe at his sensei's abilities to create something like that._

_"Now lay on your back, this procedure is going to be long and hard, and its probably going to make you feel pain like none other that you have felt" Said Zeref while walking to the far end of the room where a little box resided. Naruto did as told and just as soon as he did that black chains appeared from the ground and tied themselves around each one of his limbs, making Naruto completely unable to move._

_"W-what the hell is this sensei!?" yelled Naruto, trying to move his arms and legs but the chains were to tight for that, so he ended up doing nothing at all_

_'I can't have you moving around while I do this, Naruto-kun, or something wrong might happen. Like I just told you this is going to hurt you a lot, but its the only way" Said Zeref, an actual frown appearing on his face knowing that he was about to put his apprentice in a pain like no other, but sadly for both of them there was just no other way for this to work. Zeref opened the wooden box he had on his hand and took out what it looked like a simple glass sphere with a weird mark in one side of it. Suddenly the magical circle in the floor activated once again. Naruto would have been more than nervous if it wasn't by the fact that the man doing this was the only person he actually trusted, so he knew that even tough it was going to hurt, Zeref was doing it for his sake. So it was with a brave faced Naruto and a completely concentrated Zeref that the ritual began._

_Naruto would always remember that day not only as the one where he gained the ability to use magic, but also the day he felt the worst physical pain that he would ever feel in his life._

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

The ritual had taken almost all day, and thanks to the pain Naruto passed out at the middle of it. By the end of it Zeref was even panting, the procedure have taking even a toll on his magical abilities.

Naruto had never felt as tired as the day after that, he could not even walk straight 'cause his whole body felt weak. Zeref had told him that it was his body getting use to it and that his chakra was going to be low until his magic container got fuelled completely, and that the training for the next week was cancelled and that he should just stay at home and rest, something that Naruto had not even the strength to complain about.

But all of that was more than worth it, since now Naruto was able to use magic just like anyone born in his sensei's world, sadly for him tough Zeref had not teach him any real spell and had just taught him how to feel and release his magic. The reason for this was that Naruto's body was too unstable after the operation, so Zeref had to wait for his chakra network and magical container to stabilize themselves before teaching anything to Naruto, so for the time being the training stayed the same, with lessons about releasing his own magic added some days.

"What's in your mind, Naruto-kun?" asked Zeref, breaking Naruto from his thoughts about the past

"Nothing, just thinking about everything that you taught me this past two years"

"I see... I know you want to learn spells already Naruto-kun, but don't worry, your patience will be rewarded when the time comes" Said Zeref, knowing that that subject was always in Naruto's mind

"Yeah I know, it does not mean I have to like tough" said Naruto, trying his best to imitate his sensei's emotionless voice and of course failing. The two of them just stayed in silence, one of them meditating and the other one just relaxing for a few minutes until Zeref decided to bring an end to the day

"You should go home already Naruto-kun, its getting late" told him Zeref, making a flash of annoyance to appear in Naruto's eyes

"I already told you sensei, it doesn't matter if I get late or not, no one is waiting for me anyway" said the young Uzumaki in a cold voice, which was always present every time the subject of his family was brought up

Even after two years his relationship with his family stayed the same, with him being always ignored by his parents and his siblings treating him like he was garbage. In the last two years all the pain and sadness he had in his heart slowly turned itself into anger, after all what kind of parent forget about there child? And what kind of brothers and sister makes you feel like you're less than dirt?

"I know how you feel about your family Naruto-kun, but you should not let hate to fill your heart or you'll end in a path that will bring you nothing but despair" Said Zeref wisely, knowing perfectly about how hate could anyone into a monster. Naruto only nodded yes and started to leave the place, since he could use magic now he could activate the magic circle in the Hokage Monument and the one in his room here. But before he could go into the hallway toward his bedroom Zeref had some mort parting words that would affect Naruto's future years heavily

"Someone once told me that family is not just some people who you're related by blood or by a last name... That someone is truly your family when your bond with them is so strong that you would gladly do anything in your power to protect them... and that the path to true power was trough those bonds" Said Zeref, remembering about the words that certain little guild master had told him. Naruto just nodded once again without even looking back and started walking again toward his bedroom where the magical circle was, Zeref's words resonating in his mind.

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

The moon was already high in the sky by the time Naruto got to the house his _family_ lived. He refused to call this place home, after all the training room that Zeref had felt more like that.

As soon as Naruto got into the house he was greeted by the sound of his family eating happily. He decided to just take a quick look and what he saw brought pain to his heart.

His _family_ was eating more than happily, both Kushina and Minato listening about the things Menma, Mito and Natsumi did in the day. Naruto's hearts twisted at seeing how happy the were without him, there was not even a chair for him and the dinning table, not that he expected it to be one, but it still hurts to know that the persons that should love you and guide you in life have forgotten completely about your existence. So it was with a heavy heart that Naruto entered his room, once again his sadness transforming into anger, but he crushed that feeling as fast as it appeared, remembering the words if wisdom that his sensei had imparted with him.

'Why do I still care?' wondered Naruto in his mind, thinking that his family was never going to pay attention to him or give him any source of love. It was at that moment that Zeref last words of the day flashed in his mind, and he found himself accepting them hole-heartedly, after all what kind of family neglects one of his members at the point that his most trusted person in the world is an emotionless mage from another dimension?

'I'm tired of this... if they don't want to be a family to me then I wont beg them, if they think they will be happier without me then I'm not going to get in their way, I'm tired of waiting for them to treat me like a son, like a brother... they're not my family anymore, no, they never were my family to begin with... my only family is Zeref, he's the only one that cares about me, he's more like a father than Minato has ever being.' Thought Naruto, and for the first time in a while he felt relieved, like a weight has being lifted from his shoulders. So it was with a clear mind and a resolutioned heart that the young blonde drifted to sleep, thinking about his day's to come while training with someone as Zeref

Meanwhile downstairs the rest of the Namikaze-Uzumaki clan were still eating and talking happily, like if nothing was wrong in the world, not knowing that they pushed a member of the family over the edge. It would take some years for them to finally realize what they did, but it was already too late

The Namikaze-Uzumaki family was already broken, and in Naruto's heart, there was no way anyone could fix it.

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

**AN: Well this chapter was mostly to explain some basics of the story; I have to say I was not expecting the prologue to be so well received. The next few chapters will deal more with the magical part of Naruto's training, the beginning of the academy and of course, Naruto's family. **

**It should be already obvious but I'm saying it anyway, this is an AU, so you can expect some changes, some of them small and others big, in the narutoverse, after all I never said how much time Zeref has been in the ninja world. **

**As a review pointed out, I made a mistake in the prologue about the Hiraishin and its creator, I can't believe I forgot about that fact but indeed, it was Tobirama Senju the one that created it.**


	3. The one that Rules over Lightning

Naruto of Chaos

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama' **Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

_**"Rasengan"**_ Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail in any source of way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Hiro Mashima. **

**Chapter 2**

**The one that Rules over Lighting**

It was a known fact that if youwanted to live a long life in a place such as the Elemental Nation you needed to know how to read a person, after all in a world where ninjas were a part of daily live the ability to know if someone was acting weird, unnatural, lying or purely acting was a necessity.

One person that considers himself a master of the art of reading people was none other that Zeref himself, after all he was more than 400 years old, and when you live that long you tend to pick up those kinds of skill

So it was not really hard for said dark mage to pick up his student change, although considering that Zeref had been watching young Naruto since he was a baby he believed that any change in Naruto's behavior would never escape his attention

Normally every time he gave his apprentice a break from training, Zeref would find Naruto either in his room here or in the training area, just laying there and looking at the ceiling with a lost gaze that for some people held nothing, but Zeref could see the different emotions that his apprentice experienced every time his mind wandered: Hurt, betrayal, sadness, anger and sometimes pure rage, so Zeref had quickly come with the conclusion that every time that happened it was because the young blonde was thinking of his biological family and how they treated him.

During the two years of training Zeref had make sure that his apprentice knew that, even tough feeling anger was normal, one should never let hate to control one's hearth and actions, since that would lead to nothing but a dark path that it was best to never walk, and that if Naruto wanted to talk to someone about anything, Zeref was more than willing to hear about his apprentice's problems, something that brought a little of calm to Naruto's heart, but Zeref could still see all the sad feeling his apprentice held in his eyes every time he thought about his family

So it was really obvious for Zeref to notice the sudden change in behavior of his apprentice, after all instead of the sad gaze Naruto always had, this time he was laying there with his eyes close and a little smile on his face, making Zeref wonder what had happened with his apprentice after ending the training yesterday

"It seems you have found something to be happy about Naruto-kun, care to share what it is?" asked Zeref with a raised brow, getting the young blonde attention, who just smiled some more to his emotionless sensei before starting explain the resolution he had gotten yesterday

After hearing Naruto's explanation Zeref could not have been more proud of his apprentice at that point, after all he had not let hate to control him even thought he had every right to despise his family and wish them the worst.

"So, what do you think sensei? Asked Naruto, wondering what Zeref thought about what he decided yesterday were

"I believe that you have showed more maturity than a lot of people in this world Naruto-kun. You have not let hate to fill your heart and revenge to fill your mind and for that I'm truly proud of you Naruto-kun" said Zeref, a little smile, almost impossible to see, appearing on his face, causing Naruto to look away from his sensei look, feeling a little embarrassed after getting such a praise from the only person who's opinion mattered to him.

"I thought that I would be saying this in a month, but you have not only surprised me today, but also proved me that you're more than ready in both mind and spirit for it, so tomorrow Naruto-kun you're going to learn your first style of magic" said Zeref, his smile widening just a little bit at seeing the happy expression his student got after hearing the news.

Meanwhile Naruto was more than exited about the prospect of finally learning a style of magic. He was so happy that he could not contain jumping of joy, and the he started muttering about all the kind of magic he could learn. However his celebration was cut short by a powerful kick aimed to his head. The young blonde was barely able to dodge the kick by jumping backyards, increasing the distance between him and the kicker, which of course was none other than Zeref himself

"That does not mean the training for today is cancelled tough, so don't go lowering your guard like that" Said Zeref, his normal emotionless expression once again in full display, getting a swift nod from his student, who still had a smile on his face, after all in his opinion this day was already one of his favorite and he knew tomorrow was going to be even better since he would finally be able to use magic properly

And with that the training continued

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

It was just after a few hours of training that Zeref had called the day off, telling Naruto to go and rest in his house since he needed to prepare some things for tomorrow and he didn't want Naruto to hang around while he prepared everything.

So it was for that reason that you could find the young blonde walking towards the house he lived in even tough the sun was high in the sky, his mind wondering about what type of magic he was going to be learning. Of course the most logical choice would be dark magic, but he knew that he probably wasn't ready for such a dangerous type of magic, so he could only guess what Zeref had in mind for him to learn tomorrow.

While walking Naruto could feel some of the villages glares that were directed in his way, and he didn't have to think hardly to now the reason for those glares, after all he got this same treatment from a few of the villager that actually thought he was some sort of reincarnation of the soul of the Kyubi.

'It's incredible how hate can truly blind someone... Just because I have whisker mark in my cheeks does not mind I'm some sort of demon, but I guess some people are just stupid like that' thought Naruto, annoyed by this people who had decided to concentrate the hate they felt toward the Kyubi on him.

He of course knew that he was _not_ the Kyubi reincarnated, and when he asked Zeref about his whisker marks he told him that it was probably a side-effect of being in his _mother's_ womb while she was the jinchuriki of the Kyubi at the time, and that any person that blamed him for the deeds of the Kyubi was nothing but a simple-minded fool who's hate would forever poison his heart.

Going back to Naruto, the young blonde had finally left the commercial district and entered the clan district of the village. Just like its name indicated this was the general area where the clan's house resided. The bigger one had to be both the Hyuga and the Uchiha clan, since they had a district of their own.

It only took a few minutes for Naruto to reach the Namikaze-Uzumaki clan's compound. Even thought it was called like that, in reality the place was just a normal two-store house, not overly big but not small neither. Naruto entered the frontal yard, noting that like always the security seals that the house had didn't activate by his presence, probably because of his blood or something like that, Naruto couldn't really know since he hadn't enough about _**Fuinjutsu **_to know how the seals worked in the house, although he guessed that they were probably really complex since they were created by two masters of the art.

Naruto reached the door and unlocked it, wondering if there was someone in the house at this hour. He guessed that Minato must be working, so he's probably at the Hokage tower, but he was at lost about what the other members of this family do at this hour, although he supposed that they were probably training with Kushina in the backyard.

As soon as the young blonde entered the house he continues walking straight to the second floor of the house to reach his room here. He didn't have anything to do so he was just going to meditate for a while and after that read some books that he has.

"Where were you?" Asked a soft, yet cold voice that made Naruto stop in his tracks completely and turn around so that he could get a good look at the living room and of course, at the person that just spoke to him.

Said individual was without a doubt female, with long red hair that reached to her middle back and framed her face. She has a cute heart-shaped face with violet eyes that right now were focused on Naruto's own blue eyes. This girl was wearing a simple white shirt that had the symbol of Konoha on its front. She was also wearing ANBU pants that she normally used for training and some blue sandals. The girl was sitting in the couch, a scroll lying in her lap, probably something that she was reading before our blonde hero entered the house. This girl was of course none other than Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze, first daughter of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki and of course holder of the Ying part of the Kyubi's chakra

Now Naruto was getting better at controlling his emotions but he was not even close to the level of control his sensei has, so it was no surprise that the young blonde got a surprised expression on his face after seeing who has asked about his whereabouts, after all he could not even remember the last time he talked to his sister, let alone any time she started the conversation herself.

Of course his sister was not always like that towards him, no, all of that started when they were seven and she suddenly started to ignore him. She never talked to him unless she really needed to and she always acted like he was not there. Before that started she was actually really nice to him, she would play with him and even defended him whenever Menma insulted him.

It really hurt Naruto to see how the one family member that treated him like a real family suddenly turned in to a cold girl that didn't give a crap about him and he always wondered why she had changed her attitude towards him so much.

The young apprentice of Zeref had to take a few second to shake the surprise out of his face before answering the lie his sensei had told him to say if anyone ever asked about where he was at this time, something that had never happened tough

"I was at the library" answered Naruto, doing his best to keep his face neutral and to not let anger get in his voice. This answer got nothing but a nod of acceptance from his _sister_, just before she went back to reading her scroll.

Since, in Naruto's opinion, the conversation was over, the young blonde continued his path towards his room, not seeing that, until he got out if sight his sister's eyes where watching him with a lot of intensity. Of course he also missed when her eyes turned from her cold one to one that showed her real emotions towards her brother

Ones of sadness and regret

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

It was at the next day that you could find an exited Naruto and an emotionless Zeref who was holding a wooden box similar to the one that had his magical container, standing in the middle of the magical circle that extended itself in the floor of their training room.

"So, what I'm I going to learn sensei?" asked Naruto, looking at the wooden box in Zeref's hand with a look that had both interest and a little bit of fear, after all he remembered very well what happened last time something was taking out of that box

Without saying anything Zeref just opened the small box and took out what it had inside, which happened to be a crystal sphere that was the size of Zeref's hand. This sphere was quite peculiar tough, since it was completely blue on the inside but is had a yellow thing on its center that looked like a spark. Another thing was that at one side of the sphere was a symbol that looked exactly like the one Naruto had on the back of his shirt: the head of a silver dragon.

"Can you tell me what this is, Naruto-kun?" asked Zeref, testing if his lessons about the magical world had stayed in his apprentice's mind.

Naruto looked at the glass sphere a little bit, thinking about all the thing Zeref had told him about his world since this thing was obviously magical.

"It's a _**Lacrima**_" said Naruto in awe, remembering the lessons about these little balls of magic that people used for different reasons

"Indeed, this is a special kind of _**Lacrima**_ tough, this what you could call a _**Dragon Lacrima**_" confirmed Zeref, making his apprentice look at the sphere in awe just before his brain kicked in and managed to figure what his sensei had planned

"Wait sensei, does this mean that the style I'm going to learn is _**Metsuryū Mahō**__** (Dragon Slayer Magic)**_?!" asked Naruto in complete surprise, after all of all types of magic there is and his sensei was going to teach him such a powerful _**Lost Magic.**_

"Yes Naruto-kun, I decided that before teaching you my own style of magic you need to learn something different and since the advantages of this type of magic can not be denied, I decided that it would be a good style for you to learn" answered Zeref in a matter of a fact kind of tone.

"Now as you already know Naruto-kun, a _**Dragon Lacrima**_, after being infused in a mage's body, allows him or her to use _**Metsuryū Mahō**__** (Dragon Slayer Magic)**_ just like if they had been training with a real dragon. That's what we are going to be doing today: fuse this _**Lacrima**_ with your body, turning you into a 2nd generation dragon slayer" continued Zeref, waiting to see if his apprentice had any question before continuing

"Incredible, I'm going to be a dragon slayer..." muttered Naruto, looking at the crystal ball like it was a deity, which it probably was to him "... sensei, what kind of element does that _**Lacrima**_ holds?" asked the young blonde, more than curious about everything related to the sphere that will allow him use such a powerful magic

"This _**Lacrima**_ holds the element of lighting Naruto-kun, which means you're going to be learning _**Kaminari no **__**Metsuryū Mahō**__** (Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic)**_" Said Zeref, although he still had another thing to say before fusing the sphere with his apprentice

"Before we start the fusing process Naruto-kun there is something else you should now, this _**Lacrima**_ holds something else besides the magic of a dragon, it also holds a soul Naruto-kun... the soul of a dragon" revealed Zeref, shocking his apprentice to the core

"What?! but how's that possible Zeref-sensei?!" asked Naruto, not understanding at all how something like that was possible, after all even if you found a way to seal the soul of a dragon in a _**Lacrima**_, there still was the fact about founding the soul itself, after all there were no dragon in the Elemental Nations... right?

"You must understand something Naruto-kun; dragons are beings whose strength is second to no one but the gods themselves. With that amount of power travelling between worlds is not such a hard task; at least it wasn't when they were many of them. For what I understand five different dragons, each one holding the power of a different basic element, came to this world a long time ago during the civil dragon war in my world. The reason for that was to make sure that their race did not disappear in case the civil war ended badly. During my travels I ended up finding one of them: Raijin the Lightning Dragon King of this world. I asked him if there was anyway for him to lend me a part of his magic, but sadly he said no, so I had no choice but to challenge him to a duel, knowing that a real dragon would never refuse such a thing, of course if I won he would lend me his power but if I lost he would kill me. I manage to win the fight, although it was I hard one but I manage to defeat him, after that he told me in his dying moments that he wanted to know the person who would use his magic, so to honor that request I fused his soul with the _**Lacrima**_ that holds his powers. Do you understand now Naruto-kun?" Said Zeref, remembering his meeting with the mighty beast that was Raijin. It was thanks to him that Zeref got the information about the other four dragons, but he hasn't been able to find any of them...yet

Meanwhile Naruto was repeating the tale that his sensei had just say in his mind in both shock and awe, shocked that there really are dragons in the Elemental Nations and awe because his sensei managed to defeat one, which if what he know about dragons is true, which should be since it was Zeref himself the one that told him about them, then his sensei must truly be one of the strongest person in the Elemental Nations right now.

"Is the soul inside the _**Lacrima**_ going to affect the process sensei?" asked Naruto after thinking about everything his sensei just told him, wanting to know exactly what was going to happen when the orb of crystal and him fused

"Yes and no Naruto-kun, I can assure you that the process itself wont be a danger to you, even with the soul in the _**Lacrima**_, but I can also tell you that you will probably have to meet with Raijin himself, after all that was the reason that I putted his soul in _**Lacrima**_ in the first place" answered Zeref, wondering how the meeting between his apprentice and the mighty dragon was going to be. Of course after hearing that Naruto got a little nervous since he would be meting a dragon of all being, but he didn't have anything to lose at this point, so it was like that that the young blonde asked his sensei to start the procedure

"Very well then, and don't worry, this is not going to be as painfully as the last time we did something like this" assured Zeref just before the magic circle once again bursted into life.

Naruto just laid there in his back, watching how his sensei brought the sphere of power close to his chest and another hand to his forehead. That was the last thing the young blonde saw before he passed out completely; his last tough was in how this time there was no pain.

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

Naruto woke up with one hell of a headache, feeling the rocks that were in the floor to annoying for his like

'Wait... rocks?'

That thought made Naruto jump out in surprise and start looking at his surroundings, and it only took a look for him to realize that this place was not the training room he was just a second ago. This place looked like a freaking wasteland, the ground was full of little rocks and you could see some dead trees here and there, and if you looked up you could see the white moon in a completely black sky, with not even one start up there.

Not knowing what to do, the young soon to be dragon slayer decided to just walk and see if there was any clue of where he was, after all the last thing he remember was being in the training room while Zeref started fusing the _**Dragon Lacrima**_ with his body.

After a few minutes of walking Naruto was getting more annoyed that anything, why?, simple, he could swear he had passed the same damn tree like five times already, and that was making him a little mad. By the sixth time the young blonde was more than ready to punch the stupid street, just to see if his training had paid off

However before Naruto could have his righteous revenge upon the unfortunate dead tree he was stopped by something that sounded like wings flapping, and when the young blonde turned around he saw something _big_, big enough that his shadow covered Naruto completely just before the strange being landed a few meters away from the blonde, lifting some dust that was easily swiped away by another flapping of the mighty creature's wings.

Now Naruto had a good look of the creature and he was more than awed by the magnificent of this being. Said being was now standing proudly in front of Naruto, its four paws holding his massive body easily. This being was huge, easily as tall as the Kyubi himself or even a little taller, not that Naruto knew that tough. It had a reptilian body that was grayish blue in color and its mouth was slightly open, showing a set of sharp fangs that would destroy everything that they touched. its eyes were completely yellow and on top of his head were a set of yellow spines that reached to the end of its neck, and after that you could see a big patch of white hair that covered the majority of this being upper body. At the end of each of his four paws where powerful black claws that looked as deadly as the fangs it had in his mouth, at his back you could see his two great winds completely extended and at the end of hid body you could find a big tail that also had a little bit of white hair and that ended up in a yellow point that looked like a trident.

The young blonde could not even move because of the presence of this thing. Naruto could even feel the power it had and he has to say, he was more scared he has ever being in his life. The creatures heard went down until it was at the same level with Naruto and the young blonde could feel its eyes examinating him, studying him, seeing if he was worth of something, which he hoped he was. After a few minutes of nothing happening the young blonde was more than surprise when it was this being the one that talked first, his powerful voice resonating everywhere

**"So you are the human who'll use my power"** said the powerful creature, making Naruto awed and scared face go to one of confusion, until his mind kicked in, remembering who he was supposed to meet and by just looking at the creature if front of him it was not a hard job to figure out who he was

"You are Raijin, the Dragon King of Lighting" Said Naruto, trying his best to keep all of his fear out of both his voice and expression

**"Correct little human, my name is Raijin and that is my title... although I guess I should say it was my title since I'm already dead after all"** confirmed the powerful dragon, his voice resonating everywhere.

"Do you hate my sensei for killing you" asked Naruto out the blue, and he kicked himself mentally for allowing his curiosity to get the better of him, after all he didn't want to upset someone that could eat him

**"If you mean Zeref, then no, there is no reason for me to hate him, it was me the one that accepted his challenge after all, my dead its my own fault for losing to a human, not to the human that bested me... although I'm both surprised and happy to see that he accepted my dying request"** said Raijin, making Naruto release an air he didn't know he was holding, completely relieved that this dragon didn't hold any grudged toward his sensei

"He told me that your last wish was for you to meet the one who will use your magic" said Naruto, a little more calm this time

**"Indeed, I wanted to know the one that would continue using my powers even after my death. What is your name little human?" **

"My name is Naruto. Nice to meet you Raijin-san" answered the young blonde with a friendly smile on his face, getting a more predatory smile from Raijin, or at least that what it was in the young blonde's opinion

**"Naruto ehh... hmm, so my power is going to be passed to a little fishcake, what a waste"** joked Raijin, making Naruto to get a tick mark and his eyes to twitch a little bit

"It means maelstrom, not fishcake" Said Naruto now feeling more annoyance than fear from this dragon king

**"Whatever you say little fishcake"** said Raijin, getting a growl from Naruto, although that just made the great dragon to release a booming laugh that caught Naruto off guard

**"You should relax more little human, you're too stiff for my like but I guess you'll do well, after all I can't sense any strong negative emotion coming from you, and if you're being trained my Zeref himself then... yes, I'm sure you'll do more than well with my powers"** said Raijin a little more serious at the end, getting a happy expression from Naruto that transformed into one of surprise really fast

"Wait, you can sense my emotions?" asked a flabbergasted Naruto, not knowing that dragons could do that at all

**"Of course I can human, that is an old art we dragon know, but even that can not tell me everything so I want to know, what will you do once you have learned everything about my powers?"** asked Raijin, his yellow eyes looking into Naruto's own blue, wanted to see if the young blonde would tell the true or not. In reality Raijin already knew about Naruto's life and resolutions, he knew it since the moment the _**Dragon Lacrima**_ fused with the young blonde, but he wanted to hear it from said human's mouth

Meanwhile Naruto was thinking about this question hard in is mind. What was his objective? Was it to get strong? But for what? What could he do with power? He knew he didn't want it to show it to his _family_ since at this point he could not care less about what they think of him. Was it to protect the village? No, that was not it, he does not owe the village of Konoha anything so why?

The answer came like a ton of bricks in his head; he remembered what Zeref had told I'm yesterday, about how bonds where the true source of strength and that you should always protect them. Naruto who's has been feeling nothing but loneliness since he was a child until Zeref came wanted nothing but to never feel that again, and for that he would protect those bonds even with his own life, he would protect the people he truly cared about, even if right now the only one in that category was Zeref he hoped that he could make more of those bonds, so that he never had to feel truly alone never again

"I... I want to protect those that I really care about, those whose bond to me make me stronger, those that I can call friends... those that I can call a family" confessed Naruto, passion and determination in both his voice and eyes

**"I see... that's a good answer little human, just make sure to never forget that, after all power can corrupt even the most pure of all souls"** said Raijin just before flapping his wings, raising a lot of wind and raising Naruto of the ground. The young blonde thought he was going to hit the rocky floor, but instead he found himself falling into nothingness, the floor and everything in it having disappeared a long time ago.

**"Good luck little human, your going to need it"** were the last ominous word Naruto heard the powerful dragon said

And then everything went black

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

While of that happened, in the real world you would find a passed out Naruto and a meditating Zeref just were when left them. The dark mage was waiting for his apprentice to end his little soul's conversation with Raijin, knowing that said conversation was needed for both the human and the dragon

Zeref had always wondered where the other four dragons where, after all he had spent a good part of his life here in the Elemental Nation searching for them after finding Raijin by a mere accident. In reality he had hear rumors about some powerful monster that resided in _**Oni no Kuni (Land of Demon)**_ so he went there to investigate and ended up in a really big cave in which he found the powerful dragon

He of course was not going to let the chance slip away, so he asked the powerful beast to give him a part of his power so that when he met with Naruto he would have a powerful magic to teach him. Sadly the dragon had denied the request, saying that he would not mess with humans, let alone give them power, so Zeref had to go with plan B and challenge the old lizard to a duel

Raijin was a tough opponent he had to admit that, but he still was not at the same level of someone like Acnologia, so Zeref was able to defeat him and after sealing a part of his power in the _**Lacrima**_ he sealed the soul of the dragon himself in it, planning to at least fulfill the dragon's last wish of knowing who was going to use his magic.

After that Zeref went to search for the other four dragons, hoping that they would lend him their powers without having to get into a death fight. Sadly for him he was not able to find any of them, so in the end he was just going to do what he could with what he had, which was a lot if you ask him, after all he had to say that _**Kaminari no **__**Metsuryū Mahō**__** Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic) **_was a pretty powerful lost magic and that in a world where a good part of its technique were based in the elements, being completely immune to one of them was a damn good advantage.

"Guhh, my head..." groaned someone, getting Zeref's attention. Of course the one that just groaned what none other than Naruto himself, who was just getting up from his mental conversation with Raijin

"How do you feel Naruto-kun?" asked softly Zeref, who decided to ask later for details about Naruto's conversation with Raijin

Naruto did not answer tough; he just looked at his sensei with a smirk on his face just before lifting his right arm and making a fist. Naruto concentrated his magic and gave it form in his mind, the form of a lighting, which he actually found natural for him. And just before Zeref's eyes Naruto's arm started to release static until it was covered completely in electricity

"I think I'm good sensei"

That day, a dragon slayer was born

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

**And that's if for now. Yes, one of Naruto's magic style will be the good old dragon slayer magic, I know it might be a little cliché, but the advantage of that magic in the Elemental Nation will give Naruto an edge he's going to need, and don't forget he WILL learn another style of magic, after all what is the point of having someone like Zeref as Naruto's teacher if I don't give him any dark magic?**

**For those that want to reach to the part when Naruto's families realize what they have done, don't worry that chapter in coming soon.**

**I want to say I'm sorry for the grammar mistakes this ff has, my English is a little rusted and I don't have a beta so you can expect some error here and there, although I'll try to fix them before posting each chapter. And of course thanks to everyone that favorite, followed and reviewed this story, you guys are the real MVP!**


	4. One Step Forward and a Meeting

Naruto of Chaos

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama' **Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

_**"Rasengan"**_ Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail in any source of way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Hiro Mashima. **

**Chapter 3**

**One Step Forward and a Meeting**

_Konohagakure no Sato, 12 years after the Kyubi attack_

The Ninja Academy. It was this place when you kids entered and after three years they could finally become ninjas of the village. It was this place that the saw the birth of the strongest team known as the _**Densetsu no Sannin (Great Three Ninjas) **_and right now a special group of students were having their first month of class

What makes this group so special? The answer was simply. It was the fact that the majority of the young ninjas in training were the heirs of the many clans that Konoha has. This young's soon to be ninja were basically the future of the village and it was the Ninja Academy where they would start their first step towards being proud Shinobis and Kunoichis of the leaf.

One of these youngsters was a young blonde, blue eyed boy with two sets of whiskers marks in his cheeks. Said blonde was right now looking out of the window from his seat right at the back of the class, thinking of how he could be doing real training instead of hearing about the history of the village.

This boy was none other than Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, our hero, and right now said hero was, to put it simply, bored. He knew that the Ninja Academy standards weren't that high, but with just three weeks of class he could already predict that the next three years were not going to be any better, after all the only thing they have been doing in class was speak of the Shodaime and how awesome he was

'We get it, he was a godly Shinobi, there is no need to tell us that again... and again' Thought the young dragon slayer while releasing an exasperated sigh, annoyed that his normal training with Zeref had to be cut in half because of this lectures.

Before the academy even started one of Naruto's biggest concern was that his _parents_ would forget to register him in the in it, and it was not until his sensei told him that he was registered since birth thanks to the village laws that he actually calmed himself down.

The young blonde had of course spoken with his sensei about how they were going to adjust his training schedule with the Academy's one. Zeref had just told them that he would be going to the Academy every day and then he would come to the training room and train for the rest of the day, effectively cutting his normal training time in half every day, something that irked Naruto a lot, but sadly there was nothing he could do.

Thinking about his lost training time made Naruto remember about the changes that Zeref made to his normal training regime. It was not that big, just that some of the days were changed to nothing but magical training with his _**Kaminari no **__**Metsuryū Mahō**__** (Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic)**_, and Zeref had made him use said magic in their spars, although even with that he still couldn't put a good fight against his sensei and Zeref had not even used magic in the spars.

His sensei had told him that, since he was a 2do generation dragon slayer, witch means that he didn't have a dragon to train with, he would have to create his own spells, something that preoccupied the young blonde in the end, but he actually found that it was not that hard, like he could easily picture the different techniques in his mind, he just had to learn how to use them in real life. Zeref had told him that this was probably a side-effect of having Raijin's soul inside of him and that he could probably unlock more spells in his mind if he trained harder, but that it was up to him to practice and master them. Combine that with Zeref's personal advice since he had seen a lot of dragons and dragon slayer and you could say that Naruto's magical development was going great.

The young apprentice of Zeref was taken out of his thoughts by the sound of a sigh to his right, which made the young blonde turn to his right to see who was that, he guessed, was probably as bored as him, and he had to say he was not surprised to see who was, after all she always seated herself in this same spot besides him

This girl had black hair that was pulled into a ponytail that barely reached the start of her back and she also had two bangs framing her face. She had black eyes and pale skin. She was wearing a simple blue shirt that had her clan's symbol on the back of it, and she was also wearing some white shorts and a pair of blue sandals. This girl was none other that Sasuki Uchiha, daughter of the head of the Uchiha Clan and little sister of the prodigy known as Itachi Uchiha, and just like our young hero she was bored as hell

The young Uchiha of course knew, just like Naruto, that the standards of the Academy had dropped after the third ninja war since her brother had told her about it, but in her opinion this was getting ridiculous.

'Maybe if he talked about Madara Uchiha this would at least be a little interesting, but the only thing the instructor talked about has been Hashirama Senju and his _**Mokuton (Wood Release)**_" thought the young Uchiha, more than tired of this endless talking about the Shodaime. It was really no surprise that she was more interested in Madara Uchiha than Hashirama Senju, after all the man has been her idol since she could remember. Sure, he was considered a traitor to the village, but no one could denied that he still _is considered _ the strongest Uchiha, and power like that was something that Sasuki Uchiha wanted to achieve more than anything

Now if only she managed to become that strong without the hole exiled from the village and fighting the Hokage thing that Madara was famous for.

The young black haired girl was taken out of her thoughts by the feeling of someone watching her from her left, but when she turned the only thing she saw was the young blonde that always sat on that spot reading a scroll, completely ignoring the lesson of the Chunin instructor.

Sasuki herself had to admit that she had never spoke to the first son of the Namikaze-Uzumaki clan, the reason for that was actually quite simple though: making friends was not her strong part, in fact from all the other kids in this class the only one she talked to was Mito, and that's just because the two of them have been friends since she could remember, which was because the strong friendship her mother Mikoto and Mito's mother had.

The reason for her always sitting here was simply because there were no other spots the first day of class so she had to sit in the last spot which was of course the one she's sitting right now to the right of young Naruto and after that day she actually kept sitting there even though there were other free spots just because, unlike the majority of the other student, Naruto was pretty quite and did not speak to her in any way, something that Sasuki actually liked since she came to this place to prepare herself to be a Kunoichi, not to make friends.

So it was with nothing but a raised brow that the young Uchiha looked at the young blonde, a little curious about what he was reading, but hardly enough to ask, so she just simply went to pay attention once again to the class, even though in her opinion this was a waste of time

Meanwhile the young apprentice of Zeref had already forgotten about the lesson completely and he was now reading a scroll about the art of _**Fuinjutsu**_ (_**Sealing Techniques)**_, something that Naruto actually found that he was quite good at. He guessed that it was probably because of his Uzumaki blood, since said clan was famous for their incredible seals, and that the art itself was perfect for someone like him whose training made him able to focus easily in such a complex art.

Yes, the lives for this boys and girls in the academy was just starting, something that actually pissed more than one student.

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

'Thank Kami' were the thoughts of a big number of students that right now are leaving the academy since the class was finally over

One of these students was Naruto himself, who was more than happy to end that boring torture they call lessons and finally go to do some real training with his sensei. The young blonde started walking towards the place where the magical circle was, but he was not going to the Hokage Monument this time though.

Naruto entered one of the residential districts of the village after walking for a while, and after more minutes of walking he entered into an abandoned alley and after making sure no one was watching him he used _**Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique) **_to make himself look like a normal middle age man with brown hair, brown eyes and a little goatee.

After that Naruto went out of the alley and went to a little apartment that was part of a building that had more apartments. He took out some keys and opened the door, showing a simple apartment that had nothing but a little kitchen, a table, a door that lead to a bathroom and at the far end a little bedroom with nothing but a bed. The young blonde releases the jutsu and without hesitation he just went to the end of the bedroom and there he just pressed his hand against the wooden wall in which as soon as he did it a magical circle actually appeared, making Naruto smile a little bit.

This apartment was actually one of the gifts Zeref had given to him a few weeks before starting the academy. Zeref had given Naruto this little apartment for two reason, one because it was more close to the academy which would help Naruto, and the second reason was simply because Zeref wanted to take Naruto out of his _family's_ house, since staying there might cause problems in the future. The dark mage had to admit he was a little preoccupied about someone noticing that the young blonde was not living at his _family's_ house, but since it had been more than a month and nothing had happened so Zeref had to admit that, just like Naruto had said before, no one was waiting for him at that house.

The other gift he got was very simple in comparison, but it was something he always had on, it was Zeref's own necklace. The dark mage had just told him that is was a good luck charm, but for Naruto this was more than just that, after all he was a boy that never got any birthday present since he could remember, so this necklace meant a lot for him. Naruto could still remember how he actually cried a little bit just before giving Zeref a really big hug, something that the dark lord has responded with an awkward pat in his back, showing how weird this situation was for him. That day though was the moment Naruto decided that Zeref was truly like a father to him.

Going back to the present the young dragon slayer pushed a little of his magic towards the magical circle making it shine with a purple light just before the young blonde disappeared in a black flash, a smile present in his face all the time.

After all training with his sensei, no, his father was his favorite part of the day

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Konohagakure no Sato, one month later_

Sasuki Uchiha was one frustrated girl. Why you may ask? because her Onii-sama had promised her that he would help her with her training with kunai, shuriken and _**Katon Jutsu (Fire Style Techniques)**_, but he had gotten a mission at the last moment, making him unable to help her, something that pissed her off to no end

Don't misunderstands, Sasuki knew that her brother had a lot of responsibilities as a member of ANBU, but still this has been the third time he had cancelled their training so it was normal for her to feel frustrated as this.

It was because of that reason that you could find the young Uchiha walking toward a training ground in which she could practice alone on a Sunday, a scowl present on her face. Of course she could have gone to any of the training ground that her clan had, but today she really just wanted to burn something a little bit and she decided that it was better to do it alone where no one would watch her unleashing her fury, so it was with that mentality that she went to a training ground which she knew was empty almost all the time since no one used it.

So it was really surprising to the young black haired girl when she actually found someone in this place, doing what it looked like Taijutsu training. It only took a moment for Sasuki to figure out who was the one in the training ground; after all that hair color combined with those black clothes could only belong to one person in her opinion

'Since when Namikaze trained in this place?' thought Sasuki, whose curiosity towards Naruto's training was going as high as it can be. Her first thought was of just leaving and finding another training ground, but then an idea came to her mind. This was the perfect opportunity to not only get some info on someone that was on her class, but it could also be a good practice at staying silent and gather information, something that her Onii-sama had told her it was important for ANBU, so with that in mind the young Uchiha got herself into a three that was inside the training ground but far enough that in her opinion the blonde Namikaze would not notice her and with her eyes focused on said boy she just watched

She watched as the blonde did some moves of a fighting style she had never seen in her life just before start practicing throwing kunais and shuriken at the bark of a tree, and the young Uchiha found herself actually a little impressed by the skills the blonde had with those weapons. Of course he was not at the level of her Onii-sama in her opinion, but he was definitely better than the majority of the other student at the academy.

That thought brought a frown to Sasuki's face, after all she could remember that Namikaze's ability with kunais and shuriken were not really great in the academy's tests, so how is it that now he was so good a it when in the last shuriken lesson, which was a week ago, he just managed to nail half of the shurikens at the training dummy? Sasuki found her curiosity towards the blond boy increasing with every minute.

It was after a few minutes of practicing with the normal ninja tools that Naruto went to the middle of the training ground and started meditating, something that confused Sasuki a lot, after all she knew about the art of meditate, but she didn't knew that someone of her age already knew how to do it. The young Uchiha was just about to leave to her house to ponder the mystery that Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze was, maybe even ask Mito about it, since she was his sister, but a calm and monotonous voice stopped her right on her tracks

"Spying is rude you know?" those words made the young Uchiha turn around just to see that the young apprentice of Zeref was still in the middle of the training ground, although his eyes were open and they were looking right at the spot in which she was hiding, making Sasuki's eyes open wide in surprise, after all she thought she had hided herself perfectly, so how did Namikaze find her?

The young Uchiha girl had two options at that point, she could both run away and act like this never happened or she could confront the blonde Uzumaki-Namikaze boy and see if she could get any information.

It did not take a second for her to decide

Naruto had his gaze completely focused on Sasuki since the moment she stepped down from the tree until she got just in front of him, her arms were crossed over her chest and a scowl was still present on her face

"What do you want Uchiha?" asked Naruto in the same voice from before after standing up, his eyes looking directly at Sasuki's with a bored gaze, something that annoyed Sasuki a little bit

"What were you doing?" asked Sasuki, ignoring Naruto's question completely, something that just made Naruto brow to rise a little bit in interest before answering

"Training"

"And since when were you so good at throwing things?" asked Sasuki a little forcefully, wanted to get to the bottom of this fast

"That's not of your concern Uchiha, you should just leave already" answered Naruto and if he was upset about Sasuki tones he didn't show it at all. Meanwhile the young Uchiha was growing impatience, she wanted to know exactly how strong was this guy since apparently the skills he showed in the academy were fake, after all no one gets that good and just a week, so she got to the conclusion that, for some reason this guy was hiding his real skills, but why though? Sasuki was going to find out though, and after a few second she thought of a way to see if her theory was true

"Fight me" said Sasuki with a glare directed at Naruto, although this just got another raiser brow from the blond

"Excuse me?"

"Your heard me, fight me" said Sasuki with more steel in her voice. Her plan was actually simple, to fight him and see exactly how strong he was just to see if he was really holding back at the academy, after all the student have already spared once and if she remembered correctly Naruto had not done it really good against Kiba Inuzuka when they fought

While Sasuki was expecting an answer, Naruto was just about to just say no, but a thought stopped the blond in his tracks. 'This might be a good chance to test exactly how strong I am' thought Naruto, who wanted to test himself with someone else, than Zeref, after all sparing with him will always end in the same result: a calm Zeref and a bested Naruto. And since he could not show his real strength in the academy because his sensei had made it a task for him to stay under the radar in the academy and not showing off, which meant that he had to control his own skills and act like a regular student, not too god but not too bad neither. When he asked Zeref about why he had to do this he just told him that control is a tool that must be used at all times, and that deception was a Ninja's number one weapon, so Naruto had no other choice but to accept that and control himself at the academy, which meant that right now he finally had an opportunity to test himself a little bit.

"Alright" answered the young blonde, getting a surprised expression from the Uchiha, before it turned into a little smirk with obvious confidence in her eyes, after all even if she thought that Naruto was stronger that what he showed in the academy, there was still no way he was stronger than her, and after she beats him she could ask all the question she wanted

"No jutsu or weapons, just taijutsu, understood?" confirmed Naruto, getting a nod of acceptance from Sasuki, who was now standing a little far away from Naruto and had already entered in her clan fighting style, which if Naruto remembers right is was called the Interceptor Fist, which was focused around predicting and countering your opponent's movements thanks to the Uchihas _**Kekkei Genkai**_, the _**Sharingan (Copy-Wheel Eye).**_ But, if Naruto guess was right, Sasuki had not awakened her _**Sharingan**_, which meant her fighting style would be incomplete

"In that case, Hajime!" said Naruto just before entering in his own taijutsu style, one that was centered in speed and precision. This style is one of the many that Zeref showed him, and it was used for dodging and evading attacks and hitting your enemy just at the right time, which combined with Naruto's natural speed which could go higher if he used magic made it an incredible force.

The young blonde decided to mess with Sasuki a little bit though, as a form of payback for spying on him, even though he knew she was here from the beginning, so he just stayed there, knowing that Sasuki would not attack first since that was not the Uchihas fighting style.

After a few minutes of nothing but staring, which got Sasuki pretty mad if her glare towards Naruto was any sign to go by, the young Uchiha decided to just attack herself in the stupid blond was not going to move, so she ran at him with what Naruto guessed was probably Genin like speed, which was surprising in his opinion since they were just starting the academy, but still for Naruto she was moving really slow so when Sasuki finally reached him and aimed a right fist at his face, which Naruto easily evaded by side-stepping to the left, but the young Uchiha retailed with a round-house kick aimed once again to his head, which he dodged by moving backwards faster than the kick

This got a growls from Sasuki who tried her luck again with another punch, only this time after dodging Naruto grabbed Sasuki's wrist with enough strength that the Uchiha girl could not get free, so she went for another fist, but the young apprentice of Zeref grabbed her other wrist too, and before she could even do anything she just pushed away from him and then he widened the distance between them a little by jumping backwards.

This continued for a little more than ten minutes, in which Sasuki would try to hit Naruto and the young blonde would just either dodge or block without attacking, not even once! Even though he had more than one opportunity for it, which was making Satsuki angrier at every second.

After 15 minutes of 'sparing' the young blonde decided to put an end to it so when the next punch from Sasuki came he once again grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm in her back to fast for her to see, then he used his legs and pushed Sasuki making her fall face first into the ground

"Do you yield?" asked Naruto twisting Sasuki arm a little more to prove her that this little fight was more than over. Sasuki murmured something under her breath which Naruto didn't heart really well

"What was that?"

"I said that a yield, now get off me you baka!" yelled Sasuki, more than angry for being bested some so easily by someone of her age. Said someone accepted that and released Sasuki from his grip before standing and offering the young girl a hand to help her, which she just slapped away before actually storming out of the training ground with a heavy scowl on her face and, if Naruto heard her right her last words before leaving sounded like "This is not over". Naruto had a confused expression in his face all time though, his confusion getting to his mouth in a single comment

"Was it something I said?" let it be known that Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto was not the best when working with people

He blamed that to his sensei

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Konohagakure no Sato, 2 years after_

It has been 2 years since the academy started for Naruto, and just like every Sunday he found himself in the same spot, which was of course on top of certain Uchiha princess

No, not like that!

Ever since they little fight two years ago Sasuki Uchiha made it a personal mission to challenge Naruto to a spar every Sunday at the same exact training ground. Naruto had considered changing place, but he didn't found any reason for it since those little spars were a good workout in Naruto's opinion, and even Zeref himself had said that it was a good opportunity for Naruto to train with someone else besides him, so the young blonde had accepted the spar every time Sasuki challenge him

And of course she had yet to win one

So it was not surprise that we can find Naruto, now fourteen years old, on top of Sasuki's back, her arm once again twisted in her back and a frustrated expression in her cute face

"Do you yield?" asked Naruto, a little of humor in his voice, after all this was his favorite way of ending the spars

It was also the way Sasuki hated more

"Yes you baka, now get off me before I burn you" threatened half-heartedly Sasuki before releasing an annoyed sigh.

The young blond was fast to compile, and just like the firs time they spared he offered his hand to help her get up, only this time she actually accepted with the smallest of smiles appearing on her lips.

Both she and Naruto had changed a lot in the last two years. For example the apprentice of Zeref had changes his outfit completely, he now wears a sleeveless black shirt with a black jacket that has white lining along the edges, said jacket had long sleeve's and was being connected at the top with a button, and falling slightly short of waist-length, making it possible to see his black shirt. At the back of said jacket there was the same symbol that his old clothes had the head of a dragon in silver color. Naruto also had some black ANBU pants with his Kunai holder in his right leg and a pair of black ninja sandals. He also wears black fingerless gloves and the necklace Zeref have him was proudly in his neck and over his jacket.

Not only his clothes changed though, his golden blond hair was now tamer and it reached his shoulders, and his whisker marks had started to fade away, something that started happening a year ago

The same day he started his training in _**Yami no Mahō**__** (Darkness Magic)**_

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_1 Year ago, Zeref's Training Center_

_"Seriously?" asked an exited yet nervous Naruto at his father figure, getting a nod from said dark mage_

_"Yes Naruto-kun, today we'll start your training in _Yami_** no Mahō**__** (Darkness Magic)**__" confirmed Zeref, getting Naruto's eyes to get full with excitement at finally learning the magic that his sensei use, but he instantly went to have a serious face as soon as he saw that Zeref was even more serious tan normal, which meant that whatever he was going to say, it was really important_

_"First I'm going to explain exactly what you're going to learn Naruto-kun. What I'm going to teach you is __**Yami no Mahō**__** (Darkness Magic) **__in its purest form, which means Naruto-kun that you are going to learn how to use the darkness you have in your heart at is full capacity" explained Zeref, and he then used his hand to stop Naruto from speaking, since he knew the young blonde would probably say something._

_"You have to understand Naruto-kun that every single human being has darkness in his or her heart, no matter who they are or what live they had. What I'm going to teach Naruto-kun is how to use your magic to give form to that darkness, to use it as you see fit without letting it to control you Naruto-kun. You could say that there are three kind of people in this world Naruto-kun, those that denied their own darkness, those that let their own darkness to control them, and those that control said darkness, those that accept they have it but they don't let it control them, for you to learn this form of magic Naruto-kun you must become that type of person or you won't learn anything"_

_"__**Yami no Mahō**__** (Darkness Magic) is**__ one of the magic that depends more heavily in your feelings Naruto-kun, that's why I have been teaching you how to control them, since with this kind of magic everything is about intent. You must not only give form to your darkness with magic Naruto-kun, you must also give it a purpose in your mind or it wont work, which means that is a style with endless possibilities, it just depends in how you use it" said Zeref, seeing how his words made Naruto look at the ground with a thought full look in his face_

_"Do you think you're ready to learn Naruto-kun?" asked Zeref, his black eyes focusing in nothing but his apprentice. He had to admit that teaching __**Yami no Mahō**__** (Darkness Magic) **__to someone of Naruto's age could be quite dangerous since it meant opening a real Pandora's Box, but Zeref trusted in his apprentice inner strength and he knew that Naruto was more than ready for it, so he was not surprised when Naruto looked at him, determination burning in his eyes and just gave him a simple yet firm nod_

_And with that the training once again begun_

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

Naruto had to admit that learning how to use _**Yami no M**__**ahō**__** (Darkness Magic) had**_ to be the hardest thing he had ever done. It has been a year already and even with Zeref as his sensei he still had problems with using the most simple of spells since they always were too unstable or he would just simply get too tired after doing just one of them. When he asked his sensei about what he was doing wrong he just told him that it was all because of the lack of practice, but Naruto felt that his sensei was hiding something from him.

On the other hand his training with his _**Kaminari no **__**Metsuryū Mahō**__** (Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic) **_was going more than great since his control over it has increased a lot and he could now used a lot of spells without getting tired, something that Zeref had say was in part thanks to how big his magical contained and tenketsu point had become because of the training, although he had yet to learn any of the _**Metsuryū Ōgi (Dragon Slayer's Secret Art)**_ though

The young blonde was taken out of his thoughts by Sasuki waving her hand in front of his face, which made Naruto's attention go from his training to his Uchiha companion and he had to admit that Sasuki was becoming quite the beauty. She had let her raven black hair loose since last year and it reached to her middle back now, with two bangs framing her quite beautiful face. She had changed her outfit just like him; she now wears a gray high-collared short-sleeved shirt with a zipper in its front that showed her growing b-cup breasts, she also has some blue wrist warmers. She was wearing ANBU pants just like him and a pair of blue shinobi's sandals

"You were spacing out there" said Sasuki in a matter of a fact tone, looking at his sparing partner with a raised brow

"Just thinking about some stuff, you don't have to worry"

"I wasn't"

"If you say so" said Naruto before sitting in the ground and started meditating, which he found really relaxing after sparing, meanwhile Sasuki just stood there, looking at Naruto before realizing a sigh and going to a tree in which she could rest under its shadows. The two soon to be ninja's just stayed there in a peaceful silence, but of course everything has to come to an end at some point

"We are graduating soon" said Sasuki, her gaze once again in her blonde friend. Yes, _friend_, she never thought she would ever call this guy that, but after two years on sparring every Sunday and actually talking to him after that she actually found he was not that bad of a guy, although it annoyer her that he acted so calm just like her Onii-sama, and she started liking his presence even more after _that_ incident

What happened was actually simple, a year ago during their normal training routine, meaning Naruto beating her easily, she twisted her ankle really bad to the point she could not really move without feeling a lot of pain, so Naruto being the gentleman he was decided to actually carry her to her house like a fricking princess, which found protest from the Uchiha beauty who had a blush during the hole travel, but it wasn't like she could really do anything, so after a few minutes they both finally reached to her house and Naruto helped her to get inside and when he asked about the other members of her family she just told him that she was going to be alone for the day and that he should just leave

But of course he didn't, saying that someone that someone who's hurt should not be alone like this he decided to actually stay and take care of her, which got another blush and more protest from the young Uchiha but Naruto would have none of that, so after treating her injury as best as he could he actually cooked her lunch _and_ dinner and stayed in the house until it was really late just to make sure that she didn't do anything stupid while injured.

At the end of the day she simply asked why was he doing all of this for her and his answer had made her brain stop for a whole minute just there

_"That's what friends are for aren't they?"_

And since that day Sasuki actually found herself waiting for Sunday to spar and then speak to him, of course she still saw him and seated herself beside him, but they rarely talked at all in the academy, although they did ate lunch together every day

Well more like Naruto ate in the roof alone and after Sasuki found him she just stayed there in ate with him in a peaceful silence

"Yeah... just a few month more of torture and we are all set to go" said Naruto, who was still meditating. This answer actually another little smile to Sasuki's face just before it became a scowl

"Do you think we are going to be put in the same team?" asked Sasuki out of nowhere, and even though she tried to hide it Naruto could detect a little of hope in her voice, which didn't surprise him at all since he too would like to be in the same team with her and with luck enough it would be her, Shikamaru Nara and Naruto himself.

Why Shikamaru you may ask? well a couple of month ago our blond hero actually found himself playing a game of Shogi with Shikamaru during lunch when the lazy member of the Nara clan decided to use the roof as a place to view the clouds. After that game, which Shikamaru won, the two of them would actually play during lunch, in which sometimes Choji Akimichi stayed too, and the young blonde found himself impressed by Shikamaru's strategic abilities, so he really would like to be in the same team as him, and if you added someone he knew like Sasuki then he would be in a team he could easily work with

"I don't know... anything could happen, although I do hope that happens though" answered Naruto, getting a nod and another smile from Sasuki, happy that her friend wanted to be in the same team as her

"If that happen just make sure to not drag me down Naruto" joked Sasuki with a smirk, which got Naruto to open his eyes and to look at her with a bored gaze

"Hmm interesting... you took the words right out of my mouth" answered back Naruto, who found himself moving his face to dodge some kunais that Sasuki just decided to throw at him, a tick mark present of her forehead

Yes, it was definitely quite a friendship

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

It was one again one of those Sundays in which Naruto had to go to the now dubbed training room because of something Zeref wanted to tell him so that was the reason you could found Naruto walking in the hallway that connected the rooms this place had to the training room.

Of course his sudden good bye had raised questions from Sasuki, questions that Naruto found himself lying to since he could not reveal this place. More than once Sasuki has asked about how Naruto had gotten so strong since she knew that, according to Mito, he didn't train with his family. Naruto had just told her that he had a really good sensei and always tried to change the subject every time, so Sasuki stopped asking about it after a while, but she wad intended to find out though so she had told him that when she finally defeated him in a fight he would have to tell her anything, something that Naruto accepted just to make her stop asking about it.

The young dragon slayer finally reached to the training room and, just as usual he found his sensei meditating in the middle of it, so he just stayed there, waiting for his sensei to tell him the reason for him to called him on a Sunday, since every time that happened it was for something big

After some minutes Zeref stopped meditating and he stood, looking at his Naruto with his normal emotionless gaze before speaking

"Today Naruto-kun you will do the final step in your training in _**Yami no Mahō**__** (Darkness Magic)**_" said Zeref, getting a raised brow from his student

"What do you mean by that sensei? And what is this final step?" asked Naruto, curiosity heavy in his voice

"Naruto-kun, there is something you must do before you can truly use _**Yami no Mahō**__** (Darkness Magic) **_properly, and before you ask the reason I didn't tell you about it at the beginning was simply because you were not ready for it, but I wanted you to understand how _**Yami no Mahō**__** (Darkness Magic) **_worked, so I started teaching you about it before. That's the reason about why you can't use _**Yami no Mahō**__** (Darkness Magic) **_properly, but today we will correct that" said Zeref, making his apprentice eyes to go a little wide in understanding before speaking in a calm voice just like his father figure

"What do I have to do?"

"You are going to face your own darkness Naruto-kun, that's the only way for you to be able to use _**Yami no Mahō**__** (Darkness Magic)**_"

"What do you mean by that?" asked a confused Naruto, wondering what 'facing your darkness' meant

"You'll understand once we start, but this is a test you must do on your own, and I can't guarantee you safety Naruto-kun, so I must ask are you sure you're ready to take this step? Once it begins there is no going back" said Zeref, his black eyes looking at Naruto's blue searching for any doubt he may have, but he found none, so when Naruto told him that he was ready Zeref had no objections and proceed to start the test

Just like the other times the Magical circle in the ground activated itself, but this time something weird happened, and that was that Zeref made something appeared on his hand. The young blonde had barely enough time to recognize said thing as a katana just before said sword was plunger right in his chest, and he was surprised when he actually felt no pain, but he could feel getting weaker by the second.

The last thing Naruto saw was Zeref's black eyes before he muttered something that barely cached Naruto's ears

"Good luck"

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

While Naruto was getting ready to face his biggest test to date, another man was walking trough the streets of the Clan District of the village, walking toward a specific house with an important task that in his opinion could affect Konoha a lot

That thought made the man chuckle a little bit, after all some years in the past his love for this village went downhill, and he was sure that if it wasn't because of the meeting with that... _monster_, he would have probably ended up becoming a traitor to the village, but now he was doing stuff for the good of the village. Yes, quite the irony

The thought of that meeting though was more than enough to bring fear to his eyes and to make his already pale face even more pale, after he had never been more scared in his hole life, not even the third ninja war brought so much anguish so him

That just showed how terrible that being was, so he truly didn't want to meet him again in his life. To bad fate likes to screw with people so much though

This black haired man was taken out of his thoughts when he finally reached the house he was looking for. Since it was already late at night he knew that both the man and women he wanted to talk to were already in the house, probably just finishing dinner or something, so he just decided to touch the doorbell and see who will open the door

He was not surprised at all when a man with spiky blond hair and blue eyes opened the door, and the man could see that just behind this man was a woman with long red hair and violet eyes

'Perfect' thought the black haired man, after all his objective here was something that needed the attention of both the Hokage and his wife and there was no way he would leave before finishing his task

"What are you doing here..."

This was of course about certain blond haired mage

"...Orochimaru?"

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile, in an unknown place_

Shock, surprise, confusion, lost for words. Any of those terms could be used right now to describe how Naruto felt right now

The reason for that was really simple. It was not the fact that he found himself in a really weird stadium in Kami knows where, no, it was because of the person that was standing in front of him, a twisted smirk in his face

Why would this person made Naruto feel this way? Well the reason for that was simply because this guy could only be described as a clone of Naruto himself. The only difference was that his clothes were the completely opposite in color than Naruto, and his eyes were a bright yellow completely different of Naruto blue ones. There was also the aura that surrounded this guy since Naruto could feel nothing but ill intent from him.

**"So the little weakling finally decided to show up huh?"** asked the Naruto look alike, making said blonde to look at him with a glare

"Who are you?" asked Naruto with an edge in his voice, after he felt nothing but trouble coming from this guy

**"Me?..."** said the yellow eyed boy before a black aura appeared around him, which made Naruto' eyes to go wide just before he heard some words that he could not believe at all

**"I don't know how you can't recognize me, after all..." said** the guy just before his smirk widened even more

**"...I am you"** and with that the Naruto look alike dashed towards Naruto at a speed that the blonde difficult to follow

The test had just begun.

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

**And that's everything for this chapter. The next chapter will have quite a battle of both sided of the same coin and is finally time for the Namikaze family to realize what they have done, and yes, is going to be thanks to certain snake Sannin**

**Thanks to all of you that favorite, followed and reviewed this fic, is really awesome to know that people like what you write, and even more awesome to know that even if people don't like they still read it**

**Again sorry for any grammar errors that this chapter may have, I really need to find a beta one of these days...**


	5. To Face the Truth

Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's toughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama'**Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

**_"Rasengan"_** Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any source of way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima and their respective owners**

**AN: This chapter contains curses and some adult themes just so you know**

**Chapter 4**

**To Face the Truth**

_Unknown Stadium in an unknown place_

Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze was a confused and angered boy right now. First his sensei stabbed him with a sword and, even though it didn't hurt at all, it was still not right in his opinion. Then after he woke up in this weird stadium that looked exactly like the one Konoha has, only that there were some weird black humanoid things in the stadium's seats instead of people, he was attacked by someone that looked exactly like him, the only difference between them being that this weird copycat had weird yellow eyes and his clothes were completely white.

He also had a twisted smirk that made Naruto really wary of him

Right now we can find our blonde hero looking at his... clone with a powerful glare, after all he just barely dodged a punch from this guy. He had jumped backwards to make more space between them in case this guy decided to do another surprise attack.

"Who the hell are you?!" asked Naruto, rising his voice mire than he normally does, but he could not help it, after all this guy was really putting him on edge, but his question only got a look from his clone that practically said 'are you stupid?'

**"Are you deft or what? I already told you, you idiot, I am you"** said the Naruto look-alike, his twisted smirk widening more after each sentence. Of course this answer just got a stronger glare from Naruto, who could not understand what this guy was talking about at all

"What do you mean by that? And just where are we anyway?" asked once again the young blonde, trying to get as much information as he could.

This question only got that the smirk from the Naruto look alike turned itself into an annoyed expression. Apparently this guy was upset about Naruto's lack of information

**"For fricking Kami's sake, do I have to spelt everything to you?"** said the yellow eyed Naruto, releasing an annoyed sigh after seeing that his counter part did not understood what was going on

Seriously, how was he going to enjoy beating the crap out of him if he didn't even now what was going on?

**"Fine then, I'll answer your stupid questions since I can't stand that stupid look on your face anyway"** said the Naruto look alike just before crossing his arms in front of his chest, his twisted smirk once again in his face and his yellow eyes shining brightly. Naruto decided to ignore the obvious insult for the sake of getting some answer from this weird clone of him or whatever he was

**"First you're asking who I am and I answered you: I am you, or to be more specific I am your... dark side, your hidden feeling, your alter ego... I am your shadow, your true self, I am the darkness that resides in the deepest part of your soul..."** said Shadow Naruto, getting Naruto's eyes to widen in surprise, but Shadow Naruto was still not done if his smirk was anything to go by

**"Now about the location, I guess you could say that this place is your inner world or something like that, I don't really know nor care, the only thing that matters is that now you're here I can finally deal with you once it for all"** declared Shadow Naruto just before the dark aura from before appeared once again, making Naruto stand on guard, although his eyes were still full of confusion. Suddenly Shadow Naruto started to chuckle, a few second later that chuckle turned itself into a full blown crazy laugh that had Naruto looking at his clone like he had lost it, which he probably did if you ask him

**"Yes, YES! Is going to be glorious! Once I'm done with you I'll go to where our precious****_family_****lives and I'm going to make them pay for what they have done to us! First I'll start with our dear****_siblings_****, oh yes, I'll enjoy making them beg for mercy while I torture them one by one, but I won't kill them, no, that would be just too easy... HA! Now I know, I'll make them watch how I kill or dear****_mommy_****and****_daddy_****, yes, that should be good enough but who knows? I may go a little more wild at the end, if you know what I mean... wait, you probably don't, you are still a virgin after all"**All but yelled Shadow Naruto, his crazy laugh starting once again at the end of it.

Meanwhile Naruto was looking at him with a terrified expression in his face just before he shocked his head, trying to get what this guy said out if his mind. There was no way this guy could be him at all, sure his relationship with his _family_ was more than ruined, but he would never stand so low to do something like what this guy just implied. Sadly for our young hero his Shadow was far from over

**"And after I deal with them is the village turn! hell yeah, I'm going to burn that shithole to the ground and I'm going to kill every single person there, oh its going to be so fun, I can already hear their screams of agony! I'll make the Kyubi look like a little kitty, they won't even know what hit them"** explained Shadow Naruto, pure and simply bloodlust evident is his eyes.

Naruto could not even start to understand what was going on this guy's mind, but now he was more sure than before, there was _no way_ this guy could be him, or any part of him, there was just no way in Naruto's mind, after all he was not a monster like this guy... right?

"You... you're sick" Was the only thing the young apprentice of Zeref could say, his expression one of shock but then turned into nothing but disgust and anger. Meanwhile Shadow Naruto stopped laughing and looked at him like he was stupid since apparently he heard what Naruto just said

**"Excuse me?****_I'M_****sick? you may want to look at yourself in a mirror there kid, since the only thing I'm saying is how we really feel and what we really want to do"** said Shadow Naruto, who's crazy smirk appeared once again at seeing Naruto's heated glare in response to his declaration

"You're lying... there's no way you can be me... you can't be me, no, you are not me!" said the young blonde, his quite voice turning itself into a yell at the end of the sentence. As soon as he finished his word Shadow Naruto was covered in an even more powerful aura and this time random red spark started to appear around his body. Naruto could feel the incredible power that this guy had, and for the first time in his life since meeting Raijin the young blonde actually felt fear, fear at this guy not only for his power, but at his willingness to do so much harm with it

**"That's what I wanted to hear"** said Shadow Naruto, a twisted smirk appearing once again on his face just before he moved even faster than before in Naruto's direction, his fist engulfed completely in red electricity

The battle had begun

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile in Konoha_

"We need to talk" Were the first words that the 4to Hokage, Minato Namikaze, heard after opening the door of his house and seeing that the person who decided to visit him this late at night was none other than Orochimaru, one of the three legendary **_Densetsu no Sannin (Three Great Ninjas)_**

"Talk about what Orochimaru? did something happen?" asked the blonde Hokage, his completely attention in the Snake summoner, after all it was really weird if not unheard of for Orochimaru to actually come to this house, after all he normally reported whatever he had to report in the Hokage's office, never here

"I guess you could say that... may I come in? I believe is better if we have this conversation in private" said the black haired ninja, his normal creepy smile completely gone since his face was one of seriousness, which made both Minato and Kushina, who was standing a little behind her husband, look at the snake summoner funny

"Sure" was the only thing Minato said before he led Orochimaru to the living room of the house, in which Orochimaru took a seat in one of the chair that was around a coffee table while the hero of the 3rd shinobi war sat in the nearby couch

"Would you like some tea Orochimaru-san?" asked Kushina, speaking for the first time since Orochimaru entered her house, but her question just got a little shook of the man head

"That won't be necessary, but I would appreciate if you could stay to hear what I have to tell, after all it concerns the both of you" answered Orochimalu swiftly, his attention focused in both the Hokage and his wife. He wondered exactly how they were going to react to what he was going to say, but if his own assumption were correct then this was going to be one interesting conversation

This declaration brought look of suspicion from both Minato and Kushina, but neither of them said anything. The read headed jounin sat alongside her husband in the sofa, expecting to hear whatever was the news that Orochimaru so urgently had to share with them

"So, what is the problem Orochimaru? Its about the assignment I appointed you about the Academy?" asked Minato, considering the different thing that could have bring the snake summoner here since he has never done so in the past

To those that new Orochimaru they could tell you that the man had a little sadistic side inside of him that complemented a little bit his thirst for knowledge, so for those people it was not surprise that said man was none other than the head of the Torture and Interrogation Division of Konoha, but it was only the Hokage, his wife and a few number of people that knew that Orochimaru was given the task of observing the students that entered the academy and their progress in it

The reason for giving Orochimaru was simple since, in Minato's opinion, Orochimaru was one of the person that knew more about human psychology in the hole village, something that made him really effective in his job at the T&I Division, so Minato assigned Orochimaru the task of observing the development of the student of the Academy so that he could not only form the most effective teams by the time the student graduated, but so that Orochimaru could find out which student were better suited for some specialized task like the Healed Squad Tsunade made

It was after a year of Orochimaru having that job that he made the recommendation to Minato of changing how the team system worked, so that, instead of having teams with 3 genins and one jounin, Konoha would have teams made of 4 genins and 2 jounins. While some of the member of the council complained about how that system would use too many of the jonin that the village had, Minato still went with it since he had no reason to doubt Orochimaru at all, and he was glad he did, after all the system worked even better than the old one since this new one allowed not only for the jonin to focus more on their genin and allow them to teach them a bigger variety if things, but it also improved the survival rate of teams a lot.

"Yes it is... I'm not going to lose anyone's time here so I'll go straight to the matter at hand Minato, how good is your relationship with your son?" asked Orochimatu to both Minato and Kushina, making one of then look at him with a frown while the other had a preoccupied expression on her face

"Why are you asking this? did something happen to Menma-kun?!" asked Kushina, obviously worried about anything that could have happened to her son, but she was even more worried because if something did happen then her son had not told neither her of his father.

"Calm down Kushina, nothing happened to Menma-kun at all, he's actually in the top of his class, although he could do better in the written part if you ask me" said Orochimaru, making both parent sigh in relieve, although the black haired snake summoner was now even more preoccupied, after all it did not escape his attention the fact that they only asked for one of their sons

"Why are you asking then?" asked Minato, confusion obvious in his face and voice

"I think you misunderstood a little bit there so let me be more specific this time, how good is your relationship with your son Naruto-kun?" And just there Orochimaru saw a reaction that made all his suspicion even more of a reality, which made him release a mental sigh since this just made everything harder

As soon as Orochimaru asked his question both Minato and Kushina just looked at him with an unreadable expression just before their eyes widened until they were like plates, then the both of them just looked at each other with the same expression. All of this just made Orochimaru to raise a brow in interest

Meanwhile the young user of the **_Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)_** pondered the question in his mind and he _really_ did not like the answer he was getting, after all it even took him a couple of seconds to actually remember that he had another son besides Menma and even tough he was trying really hard to remember any memory with his first son he could not actually do it, like he had completely forgotten about him, and that feeling was something that made Minato panic a little bit, how could he forget his own son?

Kushina's thoughts were even more wild than her husband, but just like him she could not remember any moment with her son, even tough she thought hard about important moments like birthdays, training days and their first day at the academy, she just could not picture him in any of those, like if he never was there, which was something that made Kushina's heart to twist in pain. How was it possible to _not_ have any memories with one of her sons? There was no way she could have neglected him like that!... right?

Both the Hokage and her wife's attention were taken out of their thoughts by a cough from Orochimaru, who knew enough about human conduct to figure out the answer to his question just by looking at them

"I'm going to guess that it's not good, isn't it? Well that explains a part of the problem..." said Orochimaru, and even though the last part was said in low voice is was loud enough for both Minato and Kushina to hear it.

"What are you talking about Orochimaru?! did something happen to Naru-kun at the academy?!" almost yelled Kushina after standing up, her expression one of panic and fear, after all if something _did_ happen to her son at the Academy like him having to repeat a year of it just because neither her or her husband helped him when they should, she would not be able to forgive herself

Minato stood up and put a hand over his wife's shoulder, trying to calm her down, but Orochimaru could easily see that the fourth fire shadow too was concerned about his son, he just was better at controlling his emotions, something that Orochimaru actually respected from this man

"No, nothing at all Kushina, Naruto-kun's development in the Academy is pretty normal, his grades are not great, but they aren't good neither... in fact if you ask me I'll say that they are too... regular" answered Orochimaru with his arms crossed over his chest, looking at the two powerful ninja in front of him, who were not in the couch once again, waiting for the inevitable question

"What do you mean by that?" asked Minato with a frown of both concern for his son and shame for feeling like he had forgotten about him at all, something that, in his opinion, made him a terrible father

Meanwhile Kushina gaze was focused on the floor, but you could easily see that her mind was somewhere else, probably trying to find any sort of moment with her first born child, but she just could not. All of a sudden another thought made itself present in her mind and this one almost made cry right there: she could not even remember how her son actually looked like! Sure, she remembered that he looked similar to Menma, but she could not remember his facial details or what kind of clothes he uses, for Kami's sake she could not even remember actually buying clothes for him! All of these thoughts made the former container of the Kyubi feel like the worst mother ever, and she just wondered how in Kami's name she had forgotten about her son at all

"What I mean is that your son scores in the Academy are too... unnatural if you ask me. First are the written test, in those exams your son always get half of the answers wrong while the other one are correct, meaning he gets half of the top score of the test. Now I can understand that happening sometimes, but the fact is that in the two and a half year young Naruto-kun has been in the academy he has always got the same points in every written exam... almost like he did this on purpose" said Orochimaru, seeing how Minato's from became bigger and how Kushina's attention went from the floor to himself

"Now if we go to the practical side of the Academy we can find the same kind of things in your son's grades: always half of the maximum score when it comes to any practical lesson, and when it comes to the taijutsu part Naruto-kun progress is just a little better than the average, something that I could understand since it seems you have not been helping him at all in that aspect..." said Orochimaru, making both Minato and Kushina flinch, not because of his tone since it was pretty neutral, but more in the fact that it was true "... but for what I know Naruto-kun should be one of the best in that part of the Academy, after all he has been having spars with Sasuki Uchiha for a while now and she has yet to beat him"

Both The Hokage's and his wife's eyes widened in surprise after hearing that, after all they both knew that Sasuki Uchiha, daughter of their friends Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, is one of the best at the academy, tied with their daughter for the position of Kunoichi of the Year, so how was possible that their son, who had yet to have any special training, something that made both parent to feel more ashamed of themselves, defeated her like that?

"So, it was after looking at all of these facts that I decided that, in my opinion, your son is hiding his real abilities at the Academy" revealed Orochimaru, surprising both Minato and Kushina once again

"W-what? why would he do that?!" asked the read-headed beauty, wondering why would her son fake his skills in the Academy, after all that was hardly the normal conduct a boy of his age would have

Meanwhile Minato's thought were a little different. If what Orochimaru was saying is really true then that meant that his son had been training, since there was no way that he could be strong enough to beat Sasuki without any source of training, but if that was true then, who trained him? Sure there was the possibility that he trained alone, but that was highly unlikely, which meant that someone had been helping his son with his ninja training, but the question was who?

"I can't tell you the exact reasons since I'm not him, but I'm going to guess that he just did not wanted anyone knowing his real strength" said Orochimaru before releasing a sigh, knowing that what he was going to say next was going to really upset them both

"Considering the information that I have about Naruto-kun I must say that right now I have no choice but consider him a flight risk" said Orochimaru, and almost as soon as he did he was hit by two powerful killer instincts, courtesy of both Minato and Kushina, whose powerful glare was directed fully at the snake summoner

"Are you implying that my son could become a traitor Orochimaru?" asked Minato, his voice cold and his glare powerful, after all there was no way he would ever let _anyone_ said something like that to anyone from his family, never.

"You have to face the facts Minato! first he hides his true abilities in the academy, abilities that we have no idea from were he got them since I know you're also thinking that someone must have been teaching him for a while, but you and I have no idea of the _who_, then its the fact that your son has no bonds of importance with the exception of his relationship with Sasuki Uchiha, which probably started not so long ago, and then we can add the fact that, for what I can see he does not even has a good relationship with his family! And you don't need to be an expert to notice that Naruto-kun holds no love for this village, something that you two could have fixed if you paid enough attention, but you didn't, and for that I can easily tell you that your son has no true reasons for staying in this village, let alone protect it with his life, so yes Minato, I do consider your son a flight risk, and after he graduates from the academy he could easily become a traitor to the leaf" said Orochimaru with steel on his voice, after all he was not going to let this two intimidate him for simply stating a fact

Although it's not like this two could really intimidate Orochimaru at all, after all their killing instinct paled in comparison to _his_

For a few minutes there was nothing but silence and a powerful battle of glares between the three Kage level ninja to the point in which you could easily cut the tension in the air even with a rusty kunai

"Is this everything you came to say Orochimaru?" asked Minato with a cold voice, getting nothing but a nod from the snake summoner, who stood up alongside the blonde Hokage , after all he had already done his job here, so there was not really any reason for him to stay

"Orochimaru" said Minato, now standing at the door of his house and seeing the head of the T&I department leaving, but he still had some words to say before that

"What is it Minato?" asked Orochimaru with a raised brow, wondering what the fourth fire shadow wanted to say to him now

"Just... thank you... for telling me all of this"

"I was just doing my job... but now it's your turn to fix this before something happens..." said Orochimaru before simply leaving in a leaf _**Shunshin no Jutsu**_**_ (_**_**Body Flicker Technique**_**_)_**; after all he still had one more thing to do

"Don't worry, I will" said the blonde Hokage, more than himself that to anyone just before entering the house and pondering everything that just happened. How could he have been such a lousy father? He remembered how it felt to grow without a family, he was an orphan after all, and it was only when his sensei and father figure started to train him that he actually felt true happiness, so he made a vow to himself that he would be the best father he could be to his children, to make sure that they could have the happiness that came with the family that Minato didn't have the first years of his life... But apparently he had failed somehow

Meanwhile in the living room Kushina was also pondering about everything that happened this night. At first she could not believe at all that she had really forgot about one of her sons like that, but the more she tried to remember anything about Naruto the more she realized how bad of a mother she really was. Since the destruction of her clan Kushina had always wanted a big family, and she had promised herself that she would do anything to bring joy to that family, but it looks like that was a promise she did not manage to fulfill, after all what kind of mother neglects her son like that?

The Uzumaki-Namikaze matriarch was taken out of her thoughts by a gentle hand on her shoulder, and when she saw that it was her husband who had a sad face she finally released everything she was holding and started to cry while hugging her husband as tight as she could while Minato tried his best to comfort her

"H-how d-did we forget about him Minato-kun?" asked Kushina between sobs, fearing how bad the relationship with her first born child truly was

"I don't know Kushi-chan, I don't know... but we're going to fix this no matter what" said Minato, who felt her wife nod in his chest, her sobs becoming less loud. It was at that moment that both of them promised to themselves that, no matter how hard it might be they will find a way to reconnect with their neglected son

That was the promise of a life time

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile with Orochimaru_

The powerful snake summoner appeared in his personal office: a little room that had nothing but a wooden desk with a chair, some book case filled with them and it was illuminated by some torches. This place could be found and his secret lab that only he, the Hokage and other few peoples like his teammates knew about. This was the place in which Orochimaru would normally do his experiments; of course he could _not_ use any test subject for those experiments unless they were prisoners or any other person that the Hokage approved, and even that only happened once Orochimatu was more than sure that the procedure would not kill the patient

He would have to express his gratitude to his busty teammate one of these days; after all she really helped in improving the surviving expectation of the patients

Orochimaru sat behind his desk, which had some papers on top of it, and started thinking about some stuff of the past. Yes, he could easily remember the times in which he would have easily just kidnapped some civilian or ninja and experiment on him, and if he was ever found out he would just have left the village, after all its not like he had a lot of love for it neither, but all of those thoughts and plans went out of the window the moment he met _him_

Even after all this years the memory of the day he met that monster still made him shudder, and the only thing Orochimaru wanted more than his dream of learning all the secrets this world has was to never face that monster again

He was sure he would not survive a second time after all

The snake summoner attention went from the past to the new figure that had just appeared here in a _**Shunshin no Jutsu**_**_ (_**_**Body Flicker Technique**_**_)_**, just like he had requested her

This person was wearing the usual ANBU uniform, but you could easily see that this individual was a woman. Just like any other ANBU on duty she had a mask on her face, which looked like a snake, and you could easily ser her hair behind her mark, which was black with a blue tint to it and was styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail

'You called sensei?" asked the female ANBU in a chirp tone, her hands on her hips and Orochimaru could practically feel the smirk his apprentice had behind her mask. The snake summoner had to contain a sigh, knowing that, even though she was now in ANBU, his little apprentice would never change

He just wished she stopped getting on his nerves so much

"Yes I did... I have an important assignment for you, and it's important that you tell no one, not even the Hokage about this, understood?..."

Orochimaru was never a man to leave anything to luck, so it was not a real surprise that he too wanted to deal with the mystery that was Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, he didn't wanted to do this because of the village or anything like that, no, he had more personal reasons than that

"...Anko"

After all the few times Orochimaru had actually seen the boy in person he was barely able to contain his shock and the shudder he got, after all for each year it passed, somehow that boys presence started to become more like _his,_something that only him detected, thanks to that life changing meeting

Yes, its looks like the life of Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze was about to get more complicated, and there was nothing he could do about it

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile in the Training Room_

Right now if you were to look you could find the man known as Zeref, sitting in the ground, his complete focus in no one but the passed out form of his apprentice. Of course the powerful dark mage had an idea of what his apprentice was facing, and he knew that this was probably one of the hardest things anyone could ever experience, after all facing your own inner demons and accepting as part of you is something that almost no one could do

It was for that reason that so many mages in his world lost themselves when they started practicing any form of **_Yami no Maho (Darkness Magic)_**, of course there were those individuals that managed to control their own darkness, but by doing that they were just wasting the real power that this form of magic has, so if you were to ask Zeref what was the best way to become a master of **_Yami no Maho (Darkness Magic),_**it would be this one

A part of him of course wondered if he had done this too son, or if he had sent his only student into a death trap, but he easily erased those feelings, he had completely confidence in his student after all, and if there was someone that could face this challenge and come out winning that someone was definitely his student

It was after a few more minutes of just staring at his apprentice that a strong presence swept over the entire place and, if Naruto had seen his sensei at that moment he would have been definitely surprised, after all his sensei's normal emotional face turned into a powerful glare as soon as he felt this presence

"What are you doing here, Alcor?" asked Zeref out of nowhere, his voice had a threatening tone that almost no one from this world has ever heard and for just a moment you could have seen how his normal black eyes flashed red

"Is that the way to treat a friend, Zeref-kun?" asked a silky voice that seemed to echoes everywhere, but Zeref's attention went to one of the corners of the training room, from which a figure started to emerge from the shadows itself

This figure looked like a teenager, definitely male, probably between seventeen and eighteen years old of age. This person has curly white hair and a very pale complexion. His eyes were squinting, giving him a sleepy appearance and he has white make-up/eyelashes around his eyes. He wears a red and black striped shirt with a frilled undershirt, along with matching shoes and black pants.

"We are hardly that Alcor, now tell me, what did you came here to do?" asked Zeref, his powerful glare directed at the mane called Alcor, although this did not make the smile this man has lessen at all, actually it looked like it became wider

"You really wound me with that hostility of yours, but I guess I can't do anything about you attitude now, can I? Asked the white haired man, ignoring Zeref's question with a smile on his face

"What does your master wants this time, servant of the Shinigami?" asked Zeref, revealing Alcor's identity, but of course this didn't had any effects on said man, who simply started walking closer to Zeref, his smile still present on his face

"I believe the answer to that question is kind of obvious, don't you think?" said Alcor, while signaling Naruto's sleeping form with his eyes, but as soon a he did this he found a hand strangling his neck, courtesy of a red eyed pissed dark lord, who's glare had become even worse

"If you ever put a finger on him Alcor, I'll kill you" hissed Zeref, showing more emotions that ever since he had started training Naruto, after all he had never trusted this man, just like he had never trusted this man's master. He had never felt any source of gratitude towards the Shinigami since he has brought him to this world, since he knew that the Shinigami had done it for his own reasons and not for the goodness of his heart, if he had any

So he will be damned if he event let anyone of them get their claws on his apprentice, even if he had to fight a god himself

Even though Zeref was pressing Alcor's neck pretty tightly the white haired man kept smiling, just like if nothing was happening. Then like by some art of magic Alcor simply vanished from Zeref's grip and simply appeared behind him, a hand on his mouth since he was apparently trying to hold a chuckle

"I'm sure you will Zeref-kun, but you don't have to worry about that, my Master just told me to come here and take a look after all" told Alcor, his gaze still focused in the paced out form of our blonde hero while Zeref's glare was still directed at the white haired servant of the Shinigami

"I see that you used the gift my Master gave to you" said Alcor after a few seconds like if he was stating a fact

The mention of the Shinigami's gift made Zeref look at the back of his right hand, and just as he did this a symbol appeared right there. This symbol was simply the kanji for 'Death' in a completely black color, and for anyone that looked at it would simply look like a tattoo or something, but of course Zeref's knew better, since this was one of the two gift the Shinigami gave him when he brought him to this world

One of those gifts was the mark he had on his right hand. Said mark had two purposes, the first one was to allow the Shinigami, and by extension Alcor, to know where he was at any giving moment, since apparently the Shinigami wanted to make sure Zeref did not step over the line by doing anything he might consider problematic. The other function it had was something that Zeref actually liked: it kept his powers under control. This allowed Zeref to actually express what he feels without having the fear of killing everything around him, something that was a real problem back at his original world

The other gift was something a lot more different, it was the sword Zeref had used to send Naruto's conscience into the deepest part of his soul. Said sword allowed Zeref to do a number of things related to the souls of both the living and the death ones, but it was something that the Dark Lord only used in some very specific circumstance, after all he didn't want to use something that the Shinigami had given to him, and the condition to use its most powerful power was something that Zeref had only manage to fulfill twice in his lifetime in the Elemental Nations

"That I did"

"And you're sure he was ready for that? Naruto-kun is still young after all"

"I have complete trust in my apprentice Alcor; I don't need you doubting that"

"I see..." ended the white haired man, looking at the sleeping Naruto with a lot of intensity, almost like he was the answer of a puzzle that he really needed to figure out. It was only after more seconds of intense staring, or glaring in Zeref's case, Alcor simply released a little chuckle before simply walking once again to one of the corners of the training room. One he reached that place he just stared at Zeref again, meeting his harsh glare with a smile

"I'm really exited to see who far Naruto-kun goes with someone like you teaching him Zeref-kun... just make sure you don't fail him as a teacher, after all he's one of the few interesting humans that exist, it would be a shame for him to not be able to face what's coming" Said Zeref ominous just before simply disappearing, like if he was never there to begin with

The dark lord known as Zeref just released sigh after hearing that, his eyes going to back to his normal black ones and his gaze once again on his paced out student. He wondered about why was someone like the Shinigami was so interested in Naruto, but in the end it did not really matter to him, after all the matters of the gods were not his problem

But he was sure of something, that his apprentice would face a lot of hardships and trials, and just like he had told him the day they met he would help him in anyway he could, even if he had to face the Shinigami himself or any other god

Yes, Zeref would show them exactly how much power the strongest Dark Mage of all times had if it meant helping Naruto in any way, after he was the closest thing he had to a family

And just like Mavis had said she would protect her family with her life, Zeref would do the same, even if the price was his very own soul

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

**_"Rairyu no Tekken (Lighting Dragon's Iron Fist)!"_** were the words that Naruto heard just before a red lighting covered fist slammed directly into his face, courtesy of none other than Shadow Naruto, which sent him flying to the other side of the stadium. Naruto managed to skit to a halt after a few seconds, fast enough to look up and see how Shadow Naruto was dashing directly towards him, his hand covered once again in red lighting, only this time he had it in the form of a claw instead of a fist

**_"Rairyu no Saiga (Lighting Dragon's Crushing Fang)!"_**yelled Shadow Naruto just before sweeping his right arm just he finally reached Naruto, luckily for the blonde he managed to jump out of the way of the attack just before it hit him, since at the moment Shadow Naruto's attack touched the ground it made a big fissure over it thanks to the cutting properties of the spell

'My turn' thought Naruto after increasing the space between him and his Shadow. The young blonde started to build magic in his mouth for his attack, and by the looks of it Shadow Naruto had just the same idea

**_"Rairyu no Hōkō_****_(Lighting Dragon's Roar)"_** yelled both Naruto and his Shadow before releasing the powerful lighting spell, one blue and the other one red. Both attack met each other at the middle, creating a great explosion that made Naruto covers his eyes with his arm, which of course proved to be a mistake since the next thing he felt was a powerful lighting improved kick from Shadow Naruto that just like his fist sent the young blonde flying to the other side of the stadium

'Dammit' thought Naruto who was holding his stomach after standing up, a powerful glare in his eyes directed toward his Shadow, who just stood there with a smirk on his face, thinking of how weak his 'good side' was

**"I hope you step your game, this would not be fun if the only thing I do is handle you like a rag doll"** said Shadow Naruto before once again dashing towards Naruto, this time with red electricity running trough his foots

**"****_Rairyu no Kagizume (Lighting Dragon's Claw)_****"**said Shadow Naruto before throwing a high kick aimed to Naruto's face. However the young apprentice of Zeref managed to evade the attack by bending down just before the attack reached him. Naruto took the chance and filled his fist with blue lighting just before throwing his fist right at his Shadow's face.

Sadly for him his true self moved his head fast enough to avoid the punch and grab his wrist just before slamming a powerful hook right at Naruto's ribs. The young apprentice of Zeref had no time to react though, since just after that a knee connected perfectly in his stomach, which made him arc over in both pain and lack of hair, but Shadow Naruto was not yet over though, so the next thing he felt was another hook, this time to his face courtesy of the hand Shadow Naruto used to grab his wrist, which he had released just a few moments ago

Naruto stumbled a little away from his shadow, feeling pain in all over his body, but he had faced worse when sparing with his sensei, so it was a determined Naruto that turned around and made a swinging motion in from of him that looked like an X with his arms who were covered in blue lighting

"**_Rairyu no Yokugeki (Lighting Dragon's Wing Attack)!_**" yelled Naruto before releasing the energy in his arm after swinging them, sending a powerful X shaped lighting of the size if his torso directly towards his Shadow

Said Shadow was not afraid of it though, since when he saw what his normal self was about to do he too prepared his own attack by overcharging his fist with lighting before throwing a perfect jab in front of him, he too releasing the energy he had gathered

**"****_Rairyu no Hoken (Lighting Dragon's Breakdown Fist)!_****"**said Shadow Naruto before a human size fist made of red lighting appeared from his fist and collided with Naruto's spell. Sadly for said blonde his shadow's spell proved to be stronger when the gigantic fist went past Naruto's attack and impacted his body directly, sending waves of pain to every part of the young blondes body

Naruto could only scream in pain after receiving the powerful spell head on and falling to the ground face first. Meanwhile Shadow Naruto started to just walk towards the fallen blonde, a smirk in his face and confidence in his eyes besides the normal craziness they always had

**"You know, this would not be happening if you weren't such a pussy and went to take revenge in those that wronged us"** said Shadow Naruto like he was talking to a little boy

**"But nooo, you had to be the good guy here and do shit, well I'm tired of that! Don't we deserve to have our way with those bastards we are related too? Don't we deserve to release our fury upon the pathetic village of Konoha? I think we do! but since you lack the balls to do it I'm going to have to do it myself, but don't worry, I promise you that all of them will suffer, after all that's what we truly want, isn't it?"**said Shadow Naruto in a matter of a fact tone, looking down at his other self with his permanent smirks on his face

"Shut up... That's not what I want... I'm not a monster like you" said Naruto while trying to stand up, giving a harsh glare toward his darkness, although this just got a raiser brow from him before he released a sigh

**"You know what? Forget it, I'm tired of trying to make you understand, so you can just die already"** said the Shadow with a sadistic smirk, his hand full of red electricity and in the form of a claw

**"****_Rairyu no Saiga (Lighting Dragon's Crushing Fang)!"_**said Shadow Naruto, aiming the attack directly towards Naruto's neck. Shadow Naruto was sure he had won once the spell hit the mark; of course the sound that he got after the attack was not what he expected

_Puff_

**"What?!"** yelled Shadow Naruto at seeing the log of wood that he just cut in half, result of Naruto's **_Kawarimi no jutsu (Body Replacement Technique)_**. The Shadow of Naruto had no time to even wonder where the log had even come from though, since he was barely able to turn around and catch the kunai his original self had just threw at him

**"Really? This is everything you have at this point? I have to say I'm actually disappointed in you"** said Shadow Naruto with a deadpan, looking at his counter apart like he was an idiot, but for some reason this just got a smirk from Naruto himself. Shadow Naruto was about to ask what was so funny, but was stopped by a sound coming from the kunai at his hand, and when he actually looked at the kunai he could not stop the course to get to his mouth

**"Fuck me sideways"** cursed Shadow Naruto before releasing his hold on the kunai but it was already too late since as soon as he did the paper bomb Naruto had putted there exploded, lifting a lot of smoke and of course hurting Shadow Naruto

**"You little fucker! That's it! Your dead, as soon as I get my hands on you I'm going to rip you apart!"** yelled an angered Shadow Naruto who was recovering from the explosion, his body and clothes no had some burns here and there but for someone like him it would take a lot more to really injure him, let alone kill him.

Shadow Naruto was surprised to say at least when, from the smoke cloud that the explosion lifted at least a dozen of shuriken came flying towards him, and even though he actually manage to deflect them by using his own kunais he was not able to avoid the powerful spear like blue lightning that hit him straight in his chest, releasing an explosion of electricity that actually made Shadow Naruto curse after being blasted away by the attack that he recognized as the **_Rairyū Hōtengeki_****_(Lighting Dragon's Heavenward Halberd)_**, one of Naruto's strongest spells

Naruto was not yet over though, since he moved at an impressive speed towards Shadow Naruto, but if you paid enough attention you could see that there was something wrong with this Naruto, but Shadow Naruto was at this point too enraged to even noticed, so he met Naruto halfway with a powerful fist directed to his face, but he was once again surprised when instead if hitting him the attack actually went past him

**'A clone!'** thought Shadow Naruto, but it was already too late since the real Naruto, who was hiding himself behind the clone, shortened the distance between him and his shadow and gave him a destructive upper cut, actually lifting him off the ground, but Naruto was not going to lose this opportunity though, so he jumped backward fast enough and threw another spell, hoping to end the fight with that

"**_Rairyu no Hōkō_****_(Lighting Dragon's Roar)!_**" used Naruto, the powerful lighting roar impacting Shadow Naruto while he was on the ground, creating another explosion. For a moment Naruto just stood there, looking at the cloud of smoke his attack had lifted while trying to regain his breath, but his widened in shock when he saw a black energy projectile coming from the smoke at a speed too fast for him to dodge, so when he tried the attack went and pierced his shoulder completely, making Naruto growl in pain and try to stop the bleeding by putting his hand over his shoulder

**"Now I'm really pissed off... I was going to make this fast, but now I find myself wanting to just... break you"** hissed Shadow Naruto, who appeared after the cloud of smoke disappeared, looking worst to wear since not only were his clothes destroyed in some places, but he had blood running through his chest and mouth.

The now enraged Shadow Naruto lifted his hand and pointed at Naruto just before multiple black magic circles appeared around him, each one the size of his head **"****_Kuroi Yajirushi:Kantsu (Dark Arrows: Piercing)"_** was the thing Shadow Naruto said before each circle releases the same kind of black projectiles, each of the size of a kunai, directly towards Naruto

Said blonde was stunned for a moment at the obvious display of **_Yami no Maho (Darkness Magic)_**, but he managed to get out of it fast enough to start dodging the 'arrows' that Shadow Naruto had summoned. However even though he managed to evade a lot of the projectiles he was not ready for when Shadow Naruto made a few of them divide itself at midflight, creating two for each arrow and changing their trajectory, making Naruto unable to dodge them on time

"GAHHH!" screamed Naruto in pain after a number of those arrows pierced right through his shoulders, legs, arms and thighs. The young blonde ended up falling on his knees from the pain, his vision getting a little blurry because of the blood he lost of each of his wounds. While in his knees the blonde looked up and just like he feared Shadow Naruto was already upon him, rage on his face instead of his normal smirk

**"This is your lost, but now I'll enjoy this as much as I can"** said Shadow Naruto before starting to kick the downed blonde, who was now face first in the ground, who's conscience fading away with every hit

'I'm going to die here?... without accomplishing anything?... I'm I really this weak?' were the thoughts running through Naruto's mind, who could not believe he was going to dye at the hands of this impostor

At the thought of him being an impostor another memory appeared on his mind, this one of the word his sensei had told him before sending him here, how some people denied their darkness while other let their own darkness to control them, and that if he wanted to be strong he would have to accept that part of him.

Naruto shook his head mentally though, after all there was no way he would ever believe that someone like this guy was a part of him, he was no monster, and he would never just kill for pleasure of something like that!

Other memory appeared in Naruto's head, but this time of his look alike **_"I promise you that all of them will suffer, after all that's what we truly want, isn't it"_** of course of you were to ask Naruto he would tell you that he didn't want revenge on his biological family, that he didn't care about them at all, not even to take revenge... but Naruto knew the true, that no matter how hard he tried to denied it there was always going to be a part of him that wanted to just... hurt them, make them feel pain just like they made him feel for so many years, and it was only thanks to his father figure that he didn't become a revenge motivated maniac like his Shadow

Naruto had an epiphany at that moment, this guy that called himself his shadow... is what he could have become if it wasn't for Zeref: someone that let hate to rule his life... and the more Naruto saw him through the fight he could see that, just like him, he felt betrayed by his biological family in every possible way, but while Naruto had Zeref this guy had no one... just like him for the first seven years of his life

'This guy... he's just like me... isn't he?... No, I have been denying it since he told me but... that was just me not wanting to accept my darkest emotions... Not wanting to accept that I have someone like him inside of me but... in the end that doesn't matter, he's really me, isn't he?' thought Naruto, looking up at his shadow who had stopped kicking him a few seconds ago and was now huffing a lot. However it looked like Shadow Naruto had not registered Naruto's change in mentality since he was getting ready to go for the kill

**"****_Rairyu no Saiga (Lighting Dragon's Crushing Fang)!_****"** hissed Shadow Naruto before throwing the powerful claw like attack towards Naruto's neck once again

'NO! I wont lose!... I must give it form with my magic and a purpose with my mind' thought Naruto just before the attack reached him, remembering his sensei's words about how **_Yami no Maho (Darkness Magic)_** worked. And fortunately or unfortunately it you saw it from Shadow Naruto's perspective, his magic and darkness answered his mental call and from the ground where his hand was a completely black chain appeared and stopped Shadow Naruto's attack by tidying itself to his arm

**"What?! but how did you..."** whatever words Shadow Naruto was going to say died in his throat when he saw Naruto, who was now on his back, holding in his hand what looked like a completely black sphere of the size of his palm. You could practically feel the power the spell had, and Shadow Naruto knew that from this distance, that spell could easily be fatal.

Naruto used all the power he still had to move just before throwing the powerful mass of magic directly towards his Shadow, who was either too stunned or simply could not move because of the chain, but in the end the reason did not matter since the black sphere hit him square in the chest, creating another explosion and making Shadow Naruto release a scream of agony

Naruto used all the strength he could muster to stand up and star walking toward the now fallen form of his shadow, who now had a fist sized hole in his chest, which would have easily kill any other person, but Naruto could already see that his shadow was alive, but he didn't have much time if the way his eyes lost al bright indicated something

**"How... could you use... that magic...?"** asked Shadow Naruto between coughs of blood, wanting to know how his weaker self managed to do something that was impossible just the day before

"I accepted it... what you said... its true, there is a part of me that wants to see them suffer... but I won't let that control me... you might be me, but I won't become like you... no, I won't let _their_ neglect to turn me into a monster...I'm stronger than that, and you know it" said Naruto with as much fire he could put in his voice, and he was a little surprised when this actually made Shadow Naruto chuckle a little bit, although he could easily see that his shadow was in real pain

**"He... I guess I underestimated you, didn't I?"** admitted Shadow Naruto with a painfully smile just before his body was covered in a golden aura, but that was not the only thing that happened since Shadow Naruto's body started to actually fade away

**"You better get strong... next time I won't hold back at all..."** were the last words Shadow Naruto said just before disappearing, his body turning into dozens of golden lights that floated into the sky. Naruto saw all of this with a sad smile, vowing to himself that he would get as strong as he could now that he had passed this hellish test

The young blonde was already at his limit though, so it was not surprise when he collapsed face first in the ground, his eyes closed and his body wounded everywhere, but he still had a real smile on his face

He had won the fight after all

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

**This was my first time writing a fight, so I really hope I did a good job at it. This chapter brought me some problem while writing it, but I hope you liked the final product (although if you ask me it could have been better)**

**Just in case some of you wonder, no, Alcor is not an OC, he's just a character from a game I really liked, and since I didn't want to make an OC I simply decided to use him.**

**Also thanks you to those that made constructive criticism in the reviews, and also thanks to everyone that followed, favorite or reviewed this fic**


	6. The Price of Our Deeds

Naruto of Chaos

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama'**Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

**_"Rasengan"_** Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any source of way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima and their respective owners**

**Answer**** time!**

**FlamingBlaze: ****_Just like I answered you in the PM my answer is that I still don't know yet. This story can easily work with or without it so I'll probably be putting a poll in the future_**

**ariboku34: ****_Yes and read above_**

**Leroyallenxnaruto:****_ The answer for your question is in this chapter_**

**Emperor Of Pandemonium: ****_ahh the harem, that's going to be a fun to write. Right now I will only tell you who are in the harem officially. Those are FemSasuke (Sasuki), FemHaku and Fu. Now I'm not saying that there won't be more girls in the harem, but I'll probably keep it with a maximum of six._**

**Chapter 5**

**The Price of Our Deeds**

_Training Room, one week later_

Zeref was without a doubt a patience man. Years of having nothing to do but mediate and control his magic made him learn the virtue that patience was, so it was no surprise to anyone that knew him, which were just a few, to find him in the exact same spot he has been for over a week, his complete attention in the sleeping form of his fourteen year old apprentice

A week has passed since Zeref had sent Naruto's conscience to the deepest part of what people would call their souls, and while anyone else might have become a nervous wreck while thinking that they sent someone to their death, the black haired mage was actually quite calm, and the reason of that was simply because he knew how this test worked, and considering the fact that his apprentice's magic went from chaotic to normal after the first day he figure out that everything went well, but he just had to be patience and wait for his blonde apprentice return to the land of the conscience

Normally people would call anyone that has not slept for a week crazy, but Zeref found more rest in the art of meditating that in sleeping, after all he could never stop the different nightmares that plagued his mind about all the atrocities he committed back on his world, and he knew that those nightmares will probably haunt him for the rest of his life here.

Although considering the fact that he stopped growing old his life might be to long for his own comfort

Yes, he was slightly surprised when Alcor had told him that he still had all of his powers in this world, including his 'Immortality', something that was born thanks to his experiment on the **_Black Arts (Black Art)_**. Of course it was because of this that the Shinigami had given that seal to Zeref, so that his magic did not go out of control, but the seal had no effect on his immortality, which meant that Zeref was going to live until someone managed to kill him again

He had no hurry in dying this time though, since he has more than one duty to fulfill before accepting his death unlike last time, and of those duties was of course make sure that his apprentice was ready to face whatever was going to happen in the future, whether it was something from that Akatsuki group or something more dangerous Zeref didn't know, but he would not let his apprentice to face anything without preparing him first

A groan of pain followed by his apprentice stirring made Zeref aware of his apprentice awakening, who made Zeref release a relieved sigh, after all if the information he got from the outside was correct then the fastest Naruto returned the better

"Damn my back" were the first words Naruto grumbled after straitening his body in a seating position while one of his hands were in the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stop the headache he could already feel was coming

"That's what happens when you sleep in the floor for a whole week" informed Zeref, which made his apprentice attention turn to him

"You could have moved me to a bed" said Naruto with a deadpan expression on his face

"And risk anything happening to you? I don't think so" was the answer Zeref gave to his apprentice, who stood up and started stretching his body, which made his bones crack a little bit

"What happened?" Asked Zeref bluntly after a few seconds, and Naruto didn't even need to ask to know exactly what his sensei was talking about, it was pretty obvious after all.

And so the young apprentice of Zeref told his sensei everything that happened once he woke up in that weird stadium, from his meeting with his shadow to the fight and how he managed to defeat him and how he had accepted him in the end as a part of him. Meanwhile Zeref just stood there, listening to his apprentice tale with intently and feeling prouder and prouder by the second, after all he managed to do what almost none other had done, accepting his darkness and controlling it at the end.

It was after Naruto ended his story that both sensei and apprentice just stood there without talking until the young blonde asked something that bothered every since he started fighting his shadow

"Sensei, how is that my shadow's attacks affected me? I mean, am I not supposed to be immune to lightning? Asked Naruto with confusion evident on his voice since his sensei had told him every detail about his **_Kaminari no Metsuryu Maho (Lighting Dragon Slayer Magic)_**, and immunity towards the element of lightning was one of the advantages this magic gave to his user

"You must understand something first Naruto-kun, what you just went through was not a fight between mages, but a fight between wills. The spells that you and your shadow used were nothing but representation of the strength of your wills, not real magic. That's the reason neither you or him could eat each others lighting spells, and that is the reason that when you accepted him as a part of yourself you managed to use what it looked like **_Yami no Maho (Darkness Magic)_** so flawlessly. That is also the reason of why he became stronger every time you rejected him, you were giving him power by thinking that he was an entity different from you when it fact he _was_ you" Informed Zeref, getting a nod of understanding from his apprentice, but the dark mage was not finished though.

"Naruto-kun, even though I'm sure you would like to re-start your training in **_Yami no Maho (Darkness Magic)_** since it would be a lot easier for you now that you accepted you darkness, I must tell you that training will be canceled for the rest of the week" said Zeref, getting a surprised expression from his apprentice, since this was the first time his sensei had say anything like this

"Why?" asked Naruto with a serious face, after all there must be a pretty good reason for his sensei decisions since he knew that the man was never to do something like this just for the heck of it. Meanwhile Zeref could do nothing but release a sigh, knowing that his next few words will affect his apprentice somewhat

"Naruto-kun, the reason for that is that I need you to lay low for a while..." Said Zeref before raising a hand, stopping Naruto from asking whatever he was going to ask "...because it has been already a week since you started the task" continued Zeref with his normal emotionless expression, not surprised at all when his blonde apprentice's eyes widened in surprise

"B-but how? I-i mean how is that possible?" asked Naruto, doing his best to calm himself before asking while thanking his training in controlling his emotions, after all his first reaction was to jump and scream.

"What happened Naruto-kun is that, even though you ended the test in just a day, it took a whole week for your magical core to stabilize and for both your body and mind to adapt to the changes that you got because of the influx of **_Yami no Maho (Darkness Magic)_** that you received after accepting your shadow. While that happened you entered in a comatose state that lasted a week, that is the reason of why I need you to lay low for a while, since you have been missing school for a complete week someone might get suspicious and we can't allow anyone finding this place or about your relationship with me" said Zeref, getting a little nod of acceptance from his apprentice, who still looked a little lost about the information he got, but since he could not find any reason for his sensei to lie to him about something like this he simply decided to accept it.

Besides that really explained the incredible hunger he had

Meanwhile Zeref could only imagine what his apprentice would do if he were to tell him that the real reason of him wanting Naruto to lay low for a while was because his family had finally decided to pay some sort of attention to him

'They could not have chosen a worst moment' was the thought Zeref had once his spy told him about what was happening with the Hokage and his family

"It's already late Naruto-kun, and since today is Sunday you have to go to the academy tomorrow, so I suggest that you go home and rest for today, tomorrow might be a little troublesome for you after all" Said Zeref, getting another nod from his apprentice, who simply started walking towards his room here which had the magic circle that would send him to his apartment, muttering about how he was going to have to deal with Sasuki's temper tomorrow

"I think the Uchiha will be the less of your concerns" muttered Zeref low enough so that his apprentice could not hear him. Of course a part of the dark lord wanted to tell Naruto everything he knew about his family's new found interest in him, but he decided that this would be a good test for the young blonde, a test of not only of control but also a test of the hearth

"Lets see how will you react to them Naruto-kun, specially now that you have accepted your own inner demons" muttered Zeref before simply sitting in the floor again with his eyes closed in concentration, knowing that this was a necessary test for his young apprentice

He just really hoped that his apprentice managed to stay in control, for both his sake and the sake of the village

Not like Zeref really cared about that last part though

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile with Naruto_

**"**Well isn't this nice?" were the sarcastic words our young protagonist said once he looked himself at the mirror in the bathroom of his apartment.

Of course the first thing the young mage wanted to do when he transported himself to his apartment was to eat something, sadly the only thing he found in his fridge was some instant ramen that didn't manage to cover the hunger he had, but since it was already late just like his sensei said he decided to just take a shower and hit the bed a little early. It was just after taking his shower that the young blonde finally looked at himself in the mirror the bathroom had and he almost had to take a second look after seeing his reflection, after all his sensei wasn't lying, there definitely were some changes

For starters his hair, while his golden locks had not really changed that much, the two bangs that normally framed his face did made a little change in color since they were now completely black, just the same color of his sensei's hair. His eyes also changed a little bit since they were now a more dark type of blue instead of his normal sky-blue eyes, but the biggest change in Naruto's opinion was the fact that his whisker marks had completely disappeared from his face, leaving his sun-kissed skin without any marks

"Great, more things to explain to Sasuki and Shikamaru, although that guy will probably don't even bother in ask anything, thinking it would be troublesome" muttered Naruto before putting on his sleepwear, which was nothing but a simply black shirt and some shorts.

The young blonde sat himself in his bed, getting ready to sleep, but before doing that his whole experience with his shadow flashed itself in his mind, making Naruto think about what he found, or more like accepted, after defeating his shadow.

He had already accepted the fact that, even though he decided to not care anymore for his blood relatives, there was still a part of him that still resented them for their neglected towards him. He had been denying that part of him all along, thinking that not only he had stopped having any sort of feeling towards his former family, but that he had let go of his hate towards them when he decided to stop caring about them completely.

'I should have known better' thought Naruto, disappointed about the fact that he believed he was clean of feelings like rage when he thought of his former family. His meeting with his darkness had easily showed that there still was that part of him that wanted to punish his blood relatives for their neglect towards him, but he would not do it, he would not let the hate and rage his _family_ created in his heart to control his future, he would not let it transform him into a hateful monster, he knew he had those feelings in his heart since he had accepted them, and just like his sensei had told him he also knew that having those kind of feeling was normal, he was human after all, and that as long a he didn't let them control his future he could walk a path that would not end in sadness and despair, something that his sensei had told him was the sad yet most possible result of anyone who's whole life centered around revenge and the like

He didn't knew if he would ever let the resent and loathe he had towards his former family go, there was just too much of that in his heart at this point, but he had already lived fourteen years of his life without them, and he now had a family in Zeref so for him there was not really any necessity of let it go, there wasn't any necessity in forgive them, they had already lived fourteen years without caring for him so why would they even care if he hated them or if he forgave them?

'They wouldn't' thought Naruto, who decided that he didn't need them at all, after all they weren't this family, Zeref was, so why should he even care about forgiveness when they could give a rat ass about him? The young blonde simply decides that he could easily live his life as it was; it was too late to change anything at this point, even if his family actually found themselves missing him or wanting him back in their perfect family

"As if" were the last words Naruto muttered before finally falling asleep, his last thought of how ridiculous the simply idea of his family actually paying attention to him was

If only he knew

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

It was at the next day that you could find our blonde hero walking through the halls of the academy, annoyed for two reasons, the first one being the fact that he had to be here for two more months and the other reason was because he actually woke up later than normal and now he's late for class

The young blonde, seeing that it was late decided to just use the **_Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_** that he learned thanks to some scrolls in the library, appearing just outside the academy, after that he simply decided to walk towards his classroom, after all it wasn't like he was missing anything important

The young apprentice of Zeref finally reached his classroom, but of all things to expect he was definitely not expecting that every person in the room stopped doing what they were doing and just looked at him as soon as he entered. It was not only the students, but the instructor too; whose name if Naruto remembers well is Iruka Umino, a Chunin. Said man was right now doing the best interpretation of a fish Naruto had ever seen, opening and closing his mouth but without saying any words, although all of this weird act just made Naruto raise an eyebrow in suspicion

"Is there something wrong sensei?" asked Naruto politely, seeing how the scarred chunin managed to shallow the lump that had apparently formed in his throat before asking in a shaky voice

"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze?" asked the chunin, which made Naruto blink twice, thinking that the changes he had in his hair and face were not that big for the instructor to doubt who he was, sure he had miss a week of class, but its not like he was a very active student in the first place, so what is with that reaction?

"Yes... is there any problem?" answered Naruto, and just on cue three figures appeared surrounding Naruto which of course tensed as soon as the figures appeared, he also kicked himself mentally for not sensing them sooner, but it was a little to late for that so the only thing Naruto could do at this point was imagining what the ANBUs wanted with him

"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze?" asked one of the ANBUs, the one with silver hair and with the mask of a dog. Meanwhile Naruto almost rolled his eyes, after all he was sure that he just answered this question and that was the reason they appeared in the first.

"Yes" answered Naruto, his mind going a mile per hour, thinking of any reason for the ANBUs to be here for him. Could someone have found anything about his sensei or the training room? No, that was impossible, he made sure that no one was following him in the first place and that place was very well hidden, so what do they wanted?

"Hokage-sama has called you Uzumaki-Namikaze-sama, you must come with us" said another ANBU, this one with black hair and a weasel mask

As soon as the word Hokage was said Naruto became even more suspicious, but he did its best to hide it. He wasn't really thrilled so se his former father though, he just hoped he could end this fast enough and without revealing anything unnecessary

"Fine" said Naruto, wanting to deal with this fast. As soon as he did though the third ANBU; who was the only women of the three and had a snake mask, put her hand on his shoulder and disappeared along side him in a **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_**, her two companions using the same jutsu just a second later, their destination being the Hokage office in which both the Hokage and his wife were more than anxious in seeing their 'missing' son

Because of all of this Naruto did not have enough time to even start paying attention to the different reactions his classmates had once he entered the classroom. The most common one was of confusion followed by surprise. Although there were some other interesting ones like Shikamaru's, who's face was full of suspicion, or Hinata Hyuga, who's face was a mix of happiness and relieve, although as soon as a certain memory entered her mind that expression turned into one of both sadness and rage, something quite weird for the normal soft-spoken Huyga

Of course Naruto didn't notice neither the look of annoyance and the glare Menma had sent in his way or the look of pure joy Sasuki had once he entered the place, although that turned into one of worry once she saw the ANBUs take her blonde friend

He also missed the lone tear that had fallen from his sister eye

'Onii-san'

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Some minutes before, the Hokage's Office_

Sadness, regret, self loathe and despair. Those were the feeling that right now plagued the mind of not only the strongest ninja of Konoha, Minato Namikaze, but also the mind of the former jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune, Kushina Uzumaki.

Why would this two ninjas feel like that? The reason is that, for the past week they have been trying to find their first born child, Naruto, who has been missing for the past week.

"Where is he Minato-kun?!" all but yelled Kushina, who's normal violet eyes were now red and puffy from all the crying she had been doing. It has been a week already since Orochimaru talked to them about their son and since they decided make everything right with their first born course they decided to do that just the next day

Yes, Minato could remember that day perfectly

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_A week ago_

_It was just the day after the visit from Orochimaru that you could find both Minato and Kushina sitting in the living room of their house, once again pondering about their conversation with Orochimaru_

_The first thing that the two s-rank shinobi had decided was that they would start doing their best to reconnect with their son as soon as they could, which was the reason they woke up extra early this day. One of the things they decided to change immediately was to include Naruto in the training time their family had. For this purpose they decided that, even though today was an academy day, their children would not go since both Minato and Kushina decided to use this day as a good start to show their first born child that he was an important part of the family and that he was loved by them_

_For this to work well they decided to tell their other children first, since they could surely help them in make Naruto feel as a part of the family just like he was. This was the reason they were both waiting for their kids to come down, so that they could tell them the news about their brother now training with them. Of course a worry that both parent had was that Naruto was probably not at the same level of Menma o Mito, but then what Orochimaru said about Naruto hiding his strength and defeating Sasuki Uchiha easily flashed in their minds, so they also decided that today was a good chance to see if Naruto really had some sort of secret skills._

_It was after some minutes of them waiting that their three children, Menma, Mito and Natsumi, finally reached down to the living room, their youngest child had a sleepy expression while both Menma and Mito had a more confused expression in their faces, after all it was not normal for their parents to wake them up so early!_

_The three Uzumaki-Namikaze children sat in front of their parents, who were standing and looking at them with both pride and sadness. Menma was wearing his regular clothes for the academy, which were a blue sleeveless shirt, black ANBU pants and blue ninja sandals. Over his shirt he was wearing a white high-collar jacket that had the Uzumaki symbol in red in its back._

_Meanwhile Mito wore a short-sleeved, purple kimono-like blouse with a dark embroidered border that hugged her b-cup breast, held closed with a deep red obi, a dark skirt and stockings that stopped at her thighs along with blue ninja sandals, and just like her brother she also had the Uzumaki Clan symbol in the back of her blouse._

_Last but not least was Natsumi, who sat in between her brother and sister. She was also wearing a sleeveless kimono-style blouse that was black orange in color and held closed with a deep blue obi over a short-sleeved mesh shirt with a pair of dark blue shorts and blue shinobi sandals._

_The Uzumaki-Namikaze trio were looking at their parent, Menma with his arms crossed and Mito with her hands on her lap, both curious about what their parents wanted so early. Meanwhile Natsumi was still rubbing her eyes with her hands, doing her best to stay awake since she normally slept a little more than her brother and sister_

_"Children, yesterday your father and I made a decision that I'm sure will help our family a lot!" said Kushina with a loving smile directed at her children before looking at her husband and giving him a little nod, signaling him to continue from here_

_"We decided that, starting today your brother will now be joining use for training!" announced Minato with a care-free smile, expecting a lot of reactions from his three kids, but definitely not the ones he saw_

_Menma's eyes widened in surprise just before his face adopted an annoyed expression, apparently he was not amused by this news at all. Meanwhile Mito's eyes also widened at hearing the news, and after that she simply lowered her gaze and started muttering thing too low for anyone to hear. Natsumi on the other hand adopted a confused expression before she mover one of her fingers to her chin, apparently she was deep in thought about something. In the end it was Menma the one who was vocal about his thoughts, and both Minato and Kushina certainly did not expect what he said_

_"Why do we have to train with that loser?! He's just going to drag us down anyway!" spoke Menma quite angrily, after all the last thing he wanted to do was for him to lose his training time because her brother could not even throw a kunai correctly. Apparently this was the wrong thing to say though since both his parents gave him a mild glare, while his sister Mito gave him a colder glare, something that Menma ignored though_

_Meanwhile his little sister still had the same thinking expression from before, which just made her look cuter if you asked anyone_

_"Menma! That's not the way to talk about your brother!" reprimanded Kushina in a stern voice, her hands on her hips and an angry expression plastered on her face_

_"But is true! I'm sure that that loser can't even fight well! You haven't seen him in the academy; he can barely win his spars against the civilian kids. That's how weak he is!" Said Menma, his voice getting louder by every word. Of course he didn't want to train with that loser of his brother, he had to become strong and having his weak brother drag him down in his training time with their parents was not going to help him at all!_

_"Menma that's enough!" said Minato, quite angry at one of his sons speaking like that about his brother "It doesn't matter if Naruto is behind you in terms of training, he's still your brother and you will treat him with the respect he deserves!"_

_Its looked like Menma was a about to say something else to his parents, probably something bad about his brother if his previous statements were anything to go by, but he was stopped by a cold voice from his right, courtesy of none other than his sister Mito_

_"I suggest you to shut up Menma, before you say something that won't allow you to train for the day" threatened the young red-head, her violet eyes looking directly into her brother's blue ones, and Menma found himself actually gulping from that look she had, after all if there was something that really scared Menma, and Minato too by the way, was an angry Uzumaki girl._

_Not that Menma would ever admit it, even if his live depended on it_

_The young blonde jinchurikiki of the Kyubi ended up simply looking at the other way with "tch" escaping his mouth and a scowl on his face. After that Mito's attention went from his brother to his parents, an eyebrow raised in suspicion_

_"Kaa-san, Tou-san, not that I'm against it but why the change?" asked Mito, wondering about what made her parents interested in training her onii-san since they never showed any interesting him whatsoever._

_At hearing this question both Minato and Kushina adopted a sad expression, after all the shame they felt for forgetting one of their children was still fresh on their hearts in mind, and they knew that it would probably vanish completely_

_"We..." started Minato, looking at his wife and then at his children with a sad smile "...were made aware of a mistake we made and we're trying to fix it Mito-chan"_ _said Minato while putting his arm around Kushina, who looked almost ready to shred more tears_

_The young red-head seemed satisfied by that answer and decided to not touch the subject again for now, although she really wondered what was going to be her Onii-san's reaction to this and she could not stop the bad feeling she had when she thought about it. She just hoped that her Onii-san managed to become strong enough to protect himself_

_Mito shocked her head gently, trying to get rid of those thoughts, after all every time she thought about her brother she remembered the decision she made when se was seven and how bad she has felt every since._

_"Kaa-chan how does Naruto-Onii-chan looks like?" asked Natsumi with an innocent expression out of nowhere, which made both Minato and Kushina's eyes to widen and for Menma and Mito to raise an eyebrow at her question_

_In reality Natsumi had been trying to remember her other brother ever since the start of the conversation, but it was just now that she remembered Naruto's name, let alone remember how he even looks like, something that made her frustrated, although in her defense she sometimes forgets she had another brother since she haven't even talked to him in years._

_Both Minato and Kushina looked alarmed at one another since apparently their relationship with Naruto was not the only one who was bad at best. Menma seemed to resent him for something while Natsumi could not even remember him! It looked like Mito was the one with the best relationship with Naruto in the family and according to what Orochimaru said that relationship was not very good neither._

_This just brought even more sadness to both Minato and Kushina's hearts. Ho bad had they been as parents that they not only forgot about one of their children but they didn't even realize how Naruto had separated himself from their family_

_They found themselves once again vowing that they will make amend to their son no matter what._

_The oldest red-head realized a sigh before smiling toward her children, although both Mito and Menma could easily see that her smile was quite strained_

_"Natsumi-chan, why don't you go and wake up Naruto-kun so that we can start the day" said Minato, trying his best to redirect the question his daughter just made, after all he could not just tell her that both him and Kushina didn't knew how their son looked like for sure_

_This seemed like the right thing to say though, since little Natsumi nodded with a smile on her face before practically skipping towards the stairs leading to the second floor of the house while the rest of the family waited there in the living room_

_Minato and Kushina wanted to talk to Naruto before doing anything else today, to make sure that he knew they loved him and that they were sorry for not have been showing it as much as they should._

_It war after just a few minutes that Natsumi returned to the living room, although she did it with a shy look and without her brother_

_"What happened Natsumi-chan?" asked Kushina after getting closer to her daughter, concern evident in her voice_

_"I didn't want to make Naruto-Onii-chan mad at me by waking him up" answered Natsumi in a shy voice that was not normal for her at all_

_"I'm sure Naruto-kun won't get mad at you for that Natsumi-chan, but why don't we all go to wake him up?" said Minato with a loving smile directed towards his youngest daughter, although in the back on his mind the though that he really didn't knew how his son would react almost made him release a sigh._

_That answer got another happy nod from Natsumi who leaded not only her parent's but also Mito, who was really curious about how Naruto's room looked like, and Menma, who simply tagged along because there wasn't anything else he could do at this point_

_When the Uzumaki-Namikaze family reached Naruto's room it was Minato the one that knocked the door, expecting to see his son opening or saying something in any moment. After some seconds of nothing happening Minato knocked the door again but it was the same result, which actually made Kushina to worry a little_

_"Naru-kun its time to wake up" said Kushina while knocking the door, but just like when her husband did she got no answer, which made her look at her husband a little alarmed, but he only answered with a nod and a sigh, thinking that his wife was overreacting a little bit_

_"Naruto-kun we're going in" announced the oldest male of the family before opening the door and entering Naruto's room, and what they saw was definitely not what they were expecting_

_The room was, to put it simply, empty. The only thing it had was nothing but a bed, a bookcase that had no books at all and an empty wooden desk. The walls were completely white and had no poster or anything that suggested a fourteen year old boy lived here at all_

_Of course this just made not only Kushina alarmed and preoccupied, but also Minato, who walked around the room and saw the dust that was over both the bookcase and the desk, something that indicated no one used this room in a while_

_'But that's impossible' thought Minato, now sharing his wife worries about Naruto more than ever, but it was what Natsumi said next that really got the two adults in a state of panic_

_"Where's Naruto-Onii-chan?"_

_It was true; there was obviously no sign of Naruto in this room. Heck, there was not even a sign of him living here at all. Both Minato and Kushina looked at each other and they needed no words to know that the other one was thinking_

_Where was their son?_

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Back in the Hokage's office, some minutes before the ANBUs picked Naruto_

"I... I don't know Kushi-chan" said Minato while embracing his sobbing wife, feeling completely lost about what to do at this point

Of course the first thing both him and Kushina thought after seeing that Naruto was not in his room was that he had either woken up even more early than them and had gone out or that he had stayed in one of his friends house, which according to what Orochimaru had told them was restricted to Sasuki Uchiha since apparently she was Naruto's only friend.

They had ended up sending both Mito and Menma to the academy, telling them that as soon as they saw their brother they should tell him to go straight home with them, something that Mito rapidly accepted while Menma grumbled about good for nothing brothers

It took some effort from Minato but he managed to get Kushina to stay at home with Natsumi, after all they couldn't leave her alone and she was not starting the academy until next year, so it was only the Hokage that went towards the Uchiha district, or to be more specific towards the house of the head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha

Once he got there he was received by none other than a good friend of him and Natsumi's godmother, Mikoto Uchiha. Of course the first thing he asked was if his son Naruto had stayed here to sleep yesterday, to which Mikoto answered that he didn't and that she didn't even knew that her daughter was friend with Naruto

Sure, she knew that Sasuki had some sort of secret friendship with someone, although she would normally tease her daughter saying that it was a crush, which always got Sasuki all riled up with a heavy blush on her face, but Mikoto never knew the identity on this boy, but she had the hunch that her eldest son, Itachi, did knew about him.

After that and telling Kushina what Mikoto had told him he tried to do his best to calm a panicked Kushina, who was mumbling about all sort of crazy things that might have happened to her little Naru-kun

Seriously, the idea of some evil madman from another dimension kidnapping his son made him a sweat drop every time Kushina said it

Minato told her that he was probably at the academy and that as soon as he got home with Mito and Menma they would all talk about where he had been and why his bedroom was like that

Of course that conversation never happened since both Menma and Mito returned home after the academy, saying that Naruto had missed today's class. Now this really got Minato just as worried as Kushina, so he quickly called the ANBUs and told them to go and look for his son as fast as they could

Minato really hoped that the ANBUs, under the leadership of none other than Kakashi Hatake, managed to find Naruto fast, after all Kushina looked the worst she had ever being. She was not the only one worried though, since both Natsumi and Mito, although the later acted like she wasn't were quite worried too

If you asked Menma though he would just say he didn't give a crap

It was after the first whole day of having not even a signal of Naruto that things got really bad. Minato had assembled different party groups to search for their son in every part of Konoha and the area around the village, even in places like the Forest of Death. Every ninja that didn't had any urgent mission was practically tossed into the search groups, which included both Orochimaru and Tsunade of the sannin. Jiraiya would have probably helped too, but he was outside of the village at the moment.

The blonde Hokage could remember pretty well how his wife had almost cut Orochimaru into pieces when he suggested that Naruto had left the village just like he had warned. It took both him and Tsunade to stop the rampaging red-head from seriously attacking the pale sannin, although he just looked at them with an expression that practically said 'I told you so'

Even after all of these efforts they had not managed to find a single trace of Naruto anywhere, not even with the help of the different clans of Konoha like the Inuzuka or the Aburame who were now for their incredible tracking abilities.

Yes, it has been a hole week every since the search started and even though Minato didn't want to admit it the chanced of finding his son looked pretty low. He could not bring himself to say that to his wife though, since he knew that him giving up would only make everything worse for the now anguished Uzumaki women, who of course blamed herself for the disappearing of their son, after all if she had been paying more attention to him this might not had happened

Minato too felt the same, but sadly there was nothing they could do at this point but wait, wait to see if Naruto turned up and then find a way to mend their relationship with their son

The blonde Hokage was taken out of his thoughts by the arrival of an ANBU with silver gravity deifying hair and a dog mask, which Minato easily recognized at his last living student.

It was his words though, that sent a wave of relief over both him and his wife

"We found him!"

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Back with Naruto_

If someone had told Naruto that he would be standing just in front of the doors of the Hokage Office while being guarded by two ANBUs (they were three but one of them went in to report first) before even becoming a genin he would have asked that person if he/she was going mental.

Of course sadly for him that proved to be the case right now since he was standing just outside of the Hokage's office, waiting for his ex-father to led him in

Naruto thought were going a mile per second. Of course he guessed that this was probably because of the free week he had, but he was sure that, of all people in the village, his biological parents were going to be the last one to notice him missing, even if it was for a week, but seeing how things were going he was apparently wrong.

That didn't matter to him though, he didn't really care what Minato wanted at this point, he just wanted this to be over as fast as he could so that he could go back at the academy or even to some training ground to train for a bit

A voice that Naruto recognized as Minato's took the young blonde out of his thoughts. Apparently it was now his turn to go in, so that he did, entering the Hokage's office with a neutral expression on his face and of course he was mildly surprised to see not only Minato but also his biological mother, Kushina, there too, and Naruto had to admit that she really looked worse to wear.

Both Minato and Kushina's widened in surprise after finally seeing their son, after all they were taken by surprise because of his appearance. The first thing that they noted was that he was quite tall for someone of his age, they were sure he was probably a few inches taller than Menma, and there was his hair that, while being spiky and blonde like both Minato and Menma, had two bangs that framed his face completely black. The last thing they noticed was that the whisker-marks he had before were not completely gone, making him look more like Minato than ever before.

Said Hokage was about to say something but was stopped by his wife, who's joy at finally seeing her sochi was to big to contain

"Naru-kun!" That really got Naruto by surprise, after all the first thing he heard as soon a he got in was that yell from his _mother_ who had already dashed towards him, her arms wide open, ready to give her son a bone-crushing hug

Of course Naruto didn't register this. What he saw was a woman who he had been unconsciously relating to emotional pain every since he was a child running at him. He didn't know if it was because of his training with Zeref or just his natural reflex, but just before the red-headed women got to him he moved out of the way at what had to be at least chunin like speed, making Kushina completely miss her hug and of course turn too see her son, her eyes reflecting a mix of emotions that Naruto ignored completely.

"I don't know what you were trying to do just there Uzumaki-san, but please refrain yourself from doing it again" said Naruto with a cold and emotionless voice while his expression remained as neutral as he could, which made both Kushina and Minato flinch at hearing that tone. In the end it was Minato the one that reacted first, since Kushina's gaze was still in Naruto and she seemed petrified, probably because of both Naruto's words and action

"Naruto that's not the way you should speak to your mother!" reprimanded Minato in a stern voice, although this seemed to have no effect in the young blonde. Said blonde's gaze now went from the unmoving red-head to him

"I assure you Hokage-sama that I'm treating her with the level of respect she deserves from my part" answered Naruto in the same cold voice, his face showing no feeling while in the inside he was both confused and angry. Confused at their behavior towards him and angry at Minato for trying to reprimand him of all things

Like he had the right to do anything like that

"Naru-kun..." whispered Kushina, obviously hurt from Naruto's word. The matriarch of the Uzumaki-Namikaze clan tried to get close to her son, but as soon as she moved Naruto too moved a step back, his body tense in case she or Minato did something

Naruto didn't trust neither of them, so it was to be expected that he would be ready just in case anything happened. In the end it was Naruto the one who continued the conversation; after all he had better things to do that just be around people which he didn't care about

"I was told you needed my presence Hokage-sama, I'm going to guess that this meeting has something to do with my whereabouts this past week?" asked Naruto, his tone and face showing no emotions. The eldest blonde blinked a couple of times before the question got registered in his mind

"Y-yes Naruto-kun, as a matter of a fact that is the reason for this." started Minato, his voice getting calmer "Where were you Naruto-kun? You got us all worried here! We have been searching for you for the whole week!" questioned Minato, wanting to know where in Kami's name his son has been spending the whole week.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Minato's words, they worried about him? 'Well that's a first' thought Naruto, who decided to use the lie he thought as soon as the ANBUs asked him to cooperate

"I was training" said Naruto, while crossing his arms in front of his chest, his voice and expression a complete copy of Zeref normal emotionless act

"But where?!" this time it was Kushina who almost yelled her question. This didn't get any reaction from Naruto though, whose gaze simply went from his biological father to the red-headed beauty

"The Forest of Death" was Naruto answer, which of course made both parent's eyes to widen of for Kushina so release a gasp

Of course they knew of the Forest of Death, practically every ninja in the village knew of that place and of how dangerous it was. Heck the only ones who actually liked spending time at that place was Orochimaru and his apprentice Anko Mitarashi. So it was not surprising to find both Kushina and Minato having a conflict of emotions inside of them

For Minato he felt both pride and disappointment, pride in his son for being strong enough to actually train in that place, which made Orochimaru's theory of him hiding skills quite a fact by this point, and disappointment at himself for not being the one that helped his son in his training

Meanwhile Kushina was, just like her husband, conflicted. On one part she felt completely relieved that her sochi had gotten out of there seemly safe, but on the other hand she was more than mad at him for going to such a dangerous place when he wasn't even a genin yet!

"WHAT?! What were you thinking Naru-kun?! You could have gotten hurt or even died there!" was Kushina's reaction, but if her outburst made Naruto waver he didn't show it. The only thing he did was to redirect his gaze from Minato to Kushina, his black blue eyes looking directly at her.

"I don't understand how where I train is anything of your concern Uzumaki-san" said Naruto, his voice cold as ice

"Of course is my concern sochi! How could you think its not?! I was worried sick about you! I thought something had happened to you!" answered Kushina, her sad violet eyes looking directly at Naruto's cold blue ones

"Naruto-kun we're your parents, your safety and happiness will always be our top concern so please don't think that we don't care" followed Minato, who was now standing just alongside his wife, a hand on her shoulder and a sad smile directed towards. This was definitely not going well, thought Minato, after all it looked like Naruto did have some resent towards them

After hearing those words Naruto lowered his head a little bit, his hair shadowing his eyes and some quite yet powerful words escaping his mouth

"You aren't..."

"What?" asked a confused Kushina with a frown, feeling like something really bad was a bout to happen

Oh how right she was

"You aren't my parents" said Naruto, this time looking directly at both Minato and Kushina, his voice and eyes actually becoming even more colder than before, it that was possible

"W-what? What are you saying sochi?" questioned Kushina, who could not believe her son's words. Minato too was left speechless by not only what he said but by the cold tone in which he had said it

"I said that you are not my parents" Naruto was, to say at least, mad. His fight against his shadow still fresh on his mind and now this two come along trying to pull something like this? No, Naruto would not let them, he would tell them exactly how he felt

"A father is not someone that ignores his son. A mother is not someone who neglects her child. A father is not someone that forgets about his son first day at the academy. A mother is not someone that forgets about her son's birthday for fourteen years. A father is not someone that locks the house while his son is still outside, forcing him to sleep in the streets!. A mother is not someone that never believes her child, calling him a liar every time he tells her how some drunk passerby attacks him! Parents are not people who, for fourteen years had never show once ounce of love towards their child" said Naruto and a calm and cold voice, a glare finally appearing on his face and his fist clenching in anger. How dare they say they are his parent's! They were never there for him! The only one that did is Zeref; he's the only one that he can call a family, not this couple of strangers in front of him

Meanwhile both Minato and Kushina were left speechless at Naruto's word, each one of them feeling like a heavy blow for them. Were they really that bad of a parent to him? Had they really failed so much that they made heir own son feel like that

Truly both Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki could not feel any worse than that; they felt like scum, garbage, like true shit

"That..." started Naruto while moving towards the door. He didn't want to be here, at this rate he was going to make something that he will regret. He couldn't, he needed to control himself before his magic exploded or worse "... is the reason why you aren't my parents... we might be related by blood, but that is where our relationship ends... for me you are nothing but strangers, people who's life I could not care less..."

The young blonde was already opening the door, and he was glad that neither Minato nor Kushina tried to stop him, why? he didn't care, he just wanted to live this place right now, too many things were still on his mind, but before leaving he still had some more words for them, he wanted to make sure they knew where they were standing towards him so that something like _this_ never happened again

"I have lived fourteen years without your care, support or love... what makes you think I want that now?"

And with that he left

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

**Well that, I have to say, was my hardest chapter to write. I believe it was a combination of both my laziness (and ps3...) and another idea I have for another fic (crossover between Fairy Tail and Naruto) that's got to my head and that I can't get rid off, so you will probably see a new fic of mine coming out soon**

**Once again thanks to all that left a review, followed or favorite this story. From now on I'll try to answer some question just before the start of the chapter, so feel free to leave question in the reviews (of course I won't answer anything that will ruin the story for you, where's the fun on that?)**

**I'm sure someone noticed, but the fight between Naruto and Shadow Naruto from last chapter was heavily based on the Persona 4 game. I also added Alcor to this fic in the last chapter, why? 'cause I love the Shin Megami Tensei games, so for those that have played those games you will probably recognize some characters that will appear in this fic. For those that have not played that games don't worry, you don't need to know them at all to enjoy this fic.**

**Next Chapter: A meeting with certain snake lady, memories of certain sister and we get some revelations from the gods themselves**


	7. Revelations

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama'**Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

**_"Rasengan"_** Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any source of way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima and their respective owners**

**Chapter 6**

**Revelations**

_A few hours later_

Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, apprentice of Zeref, dragon slayer of lightning, future Genin of Konoha was angry. No, scratch that, he was enraged. He was more than sure that if it wasn't because of his training he would have ended up attacking those stupid fools that dared to call themselves his parents

How dare they!? How could they, after all this years of them not giving a crap about him and treating him like he was less than dirt, tried to act like his parents? They had no rights! They couldn't just choose when to treat him like family and when to treat him like a stranger! Just the thought of them acting like if they where his family made him angry beyond believe.

It didn't matter though. For as long as Naruto was concerned they were not his family. He didn't care if they had a change of hearth or whatever. Just like he had said them back in the Hokage's office, he had lived fourteen years without them, and he definitely didn't need them now.

It was with these thoughts in mind that Naruto hit the training dummy that was in the training ground, _hard_, followed by a kick and another strong hit. The young blonde decided to use one of the multiple training grounds that existed in Konoha in order to vent his anger. While a part of him wanted to go back to the academy, he knew that in the state he was right now it would be better if he cooled of for the rest of the day. It's not like someone could force him to go to the academy anyway.

Normally Naruto would have gone to his normal training ground, but that place didn't have any dummies, and Naruto needed to break something before he broke _someone_ by accident. He was sure that if even one stupid civilian even dared to glare at him he would strike him to an inch of his life. It was for that reason that, after leaving the Hokage's office, he used a simply **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_** to get to this place.

Naruto stopped hitting the training dummy, who looked it had seen better days by the way, and started taking long breaths, trying his best to calm the raging emotions he was feeling. He knew after all that letting his rage to cloud his mind would make him do something stupid, it was one of the most important lesson that he learned under Zeref after all. Controlling his own emotions was one of the most important things he had to do since magic was heavily based on the emotions itself. So Zeref had made sure that Naruto knew how to control his actions and how to keep a calm mind in every situation.

The thoughts of his sensei actually made Naruto frown a little bit in suspicion. There was no way his sensei didn't know what was happening here. Naruto didn't know how but he was sure that Zeref had a way of getting information from the village. A spy probably, or maybe a powerful spell that made gather information easy, but Naruto didn't knew for sure, so he could only guess. That didn't change the fact that Zeref knew what was going on and decided _not_ to tell him. Zeref didn't even give him a warning! He promised to himself to get some answers as soon as he got to see his sensei again.

Naruto closed his eyes and while taking deep breaths. The young blonde really hoped that his former parents didn't try to do anything like today. That's one of the reasons for his parting words towards them. To make sure they understand he didn't want to have anything but the simplest relationship with them, and that was just because Minato was the Hokage so it wasn't like he could avoid the man. At least not if he wanted to become a ninja.

It was only thanks to Naruto calming down a little bit that he reacted in time to catch the kunai that was sent directly towards him. The kunai wasn't throwing with much force though, and he was sure he could throw faster than that

Naruto's focus went directly towards the figure that threw the kunai at him, his body tensed and more than ready to react to any action said person could do against him.

Naruto blinked once, and then twice again. The young blonde tried to hide it, but he was definitely surprised by the woman that right now has sitting in one of the branches of one of the multiple trees that were in this training ground. Now Naruto was not someone that could be surprised easily, considering that he had accepted the fact that something like magic and other world existed a long time ago but this woman had definitely surprised him. The reason for that it was because of her wardrobe, or to be more precise, the lack of it

Said woman had light brown, pupil-less eyes, and violet hair which was styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She was wearing a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam, which has a pocket on both sides, and complete with a fitted mesh body suit that stretches from her neck down to her thighs, allowing Naruto to see the outline of her C-cup breast. She was also wearing a dark orange mini-skirt, as well as a Konoha forehead protector on her head, a small pendant that looks like a snake fang on a thick cord rather than a chain to and pale grey shin guards. She was also wearing a dark blue belt around her waist that connects to her skirt that has an appendage-like sash. Right now this woman was just sitting in a branch, her legs swinging and a smirk on her face.

A smirk that, for some reason that the blonde didn't get, made him shiver.

"Well, look what I found, a little blonde gaki" said the woman, looking at Naruto with a smirk on her face and a weird glint on her eyes. That combined with her words almost made Naruto's eyes to twitch in annoyance

Almost

The young blonde was about to retort, but we was forced to block an attack from said woman after she lunged at him with kunai at hand. Naruto blocked her attack with the kunai she had thrown, making a clang sound and resulting in a stand off between Naruto and the weird lady, who still had the same smirk in her face

In fact it looked like it had widened a little bit

"Well you aren't that bad... for a little kid" said the coat wearing woman in a mocking tone, getting Naruto's eyes to narrow a little bit. It was after a few seconds of their stand-off that both the blonde and the woman jumped backwards, creating a distance between them.

"What is the meaning of this? Who are you?" asked Naruto, wanting to know what was the reason for her sudden attack since he could easily see her Konoha forehead protector, which meant she had to be a Kunoichi of the village, so why attack him? He hadn't done anything as far as he was concerned that could result in an assassination attempt, so the young blonde decided to treat this situation carefully, not knowing in what kind of problem he might have gotten

Of course all seriousness of the situation disappeared as soon as the woman opened her mouth again

"So the gaki wants to know who I am. Fine then, I'll tell you!" said the woman with her hand on her hips "I'm no one but the amazing and sexy Anko Mitarashi!" finished the now revealed Anko, pumping a fist in the sky while some kind of weird explosion happened behind her, making her introduction even more weird

This time Naruto could not stop the twitching from his eyes or the sweat drop that appeared on his head. Sure he had asked who se was, but he didn't actually expect an answer from her. What kind of introduction was that anyway? And from where did that explosion even come from? Naruto would have asked, but for some reason he felt it was something that was better to left unknown.

"And to answer your other question" continued Anko with a big grin, not noticing, or caring, about Naruto's disbelieving expression "I simply wanted to see how you would react"

"React to what? Your attempt at killing me?" shot back Naruto, not letting his guard down yet and looking at Anko with a look of both disbelief and suspicion.

"Oh please, stop being such a cry baby. That was just for some fun. Besides if I wanted you dead..." started Anko, just before Naruto froze on his feets at the feeling of the cold sharp metal that was a kunai pressed at his throat.

"...you would already be dead" whispered the second Anko on Naruto's ear just before the Anko that was in front of him turned itself into nothing but mud.

'A clone!' thought Naruto, slapping himself mentally for letting someone get to him like this. Even if his state of mind was not the best right now it was not an excuse, or at least that's what Naruto believed.

It was after a few seconds that the feeling of the kunai disappeared from Naruto's neck. The young blonde turned around slowly, his hard gaze directed towards Anko's eyes. Said woman was simply twirling the kunai she used before in her hands. It was after a few seconds of simply staring at each other that Naruto releases a sigh, knowing that violet haired Kunoichi was right, she could have easily kill him back then, but she didn't, which made the attempt of assassination theory crumble.

It raised a lot of other questions though

"Is this some kind of hobby of yours? Attacking random people just to see how they react?" Naruto had to admit that he was curious about her motivation for this since as far as he was concern she was doing this just because she felt like it

And that was not a pretty good thought. Ninjas going around, launching mocking attack at other people just because they were boring

Yes, definitely not a good thought.

"Of course not!" Answered Anko with a huff, crossing her arms under her chest, which made them look a little bigger "It's more of a stress reliever than a hobby" And that answer almost made Naruto face-fault. Now the young blond was cursing himself mentally once again, this time for getting the attention of someone whose idea of stress reliever was a crime.

"So... where were you?" asked Anko out of nowhere, her face turning serious all of a sudden, and even though Naruto had an idea of what she was asking since it was quite obvious after his conversation with his former parents that they had made ninjas like her search for him for the past week.

"I don't see how's that any of your business Anko-san" replied Naruto in a neutral tone, not wanting to reveal a lot to this woman he just met, although he was more than ready to just say the same thing he said before about his location this pas tweek

"Considering the fact that I wasted a week of my time searching for you, I think it is of my business" shot back Anko with the same serious face just before it morphed into a smirk with a weird glint on her eyes "Of course if you don't want to tell me I can always find a way of making you talk, after all I can be quite... convincing"

Now that made Naruto a little worried about himself, not only because of what she said, but because of how her eyes were looking at him like he was nothing but a pray to her. The young blonde didn't know if the woman was bluffing, and normally such an empty threat would not affect him, but there was something about her that told him that she could do stuff to him

Nasty stuff

"Well if you must known" said Naruto deciding that it was easy to lie to het that provoking her in doing something "I was in the Forest of Death" The young blonde decided not to tell her what he was doing, she had just asked for his location after all

At hearing this Anko's face became completely blank and she just stood there, not saying anything. The young blonde was about to say something about her reaction or lack of one, but the brown-eyed woman beaten him to the punch.

"Bullshit"

"Excuse me?"

"I said bullshit. There is no way you could have been in the Forest of Death for the whole week" said Anko, her eyes narrowed in suspicion at him and Naruto had to do his best to match her gaze, after all he didn't want her to know he was lying, even though she apparently didn't believe him

"Even if you were strong enough to survive that place for a whole week, which I doubt, Me and my sensei were responsible of searching for you on that area and let me tell you something, if we didn't find you there its because you _weren't_ there" Said Anko with a triumphant grin, knowing that the blonde gaki in front her was lying through his theets.

Said blonde had to do his best to avoid showing any reaction that might show she was right. 'Damn" he thought 'I should have known that someone might not believe me that easily... in fact I should be surprised about the fact that those two fools actually believed me'

"Maybe you don't know that place as well as you think" replied Naruto, getting an angry scowl from Anko. How dare this little runt insinuate that she didn't know the place that was practically her house!

"The fact is that that is the true, whether you believe or not it's not of my concern" said Naruto, deciding that it was best to end this conversation right now before she started asking more problematic questions. The young blonde turned around and started walking out of the training ground, his body still tensed in case Anko tried something. Luckily for him the coat wearing beauty didn't so Naruto had no trouble leaving, hoping that he would not have to deal with someone like her anytime soon

If he had turned at least once though, he would have seen the calculative gaze Anko had towards combined with a small grin that promised trouble for the future

Poor boy

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

It was at the next day that you could find Naruto eating on the rooftop of the Academy, enjoying the rest that was the launch break that this place had.

Yesterday was definitely one of the most annoying days for the young blonde. Even if you excluded his confrontation with his former parents there was still the fact Zeref told him not to come to the training room, which practically got ridden of the place Naruto spent most of his time. His first thought was to go back to his apartment and maybe just sleep a little bit or eat something, but a sudden thought had stopped him from doing that. What if he was being followed by ANBUs? While he could easily detect someone that had not been trained properly in the art of stealth (Sasuki for example), he was sure that he wouldn't be able to detect if an ANBU of all people started following him, and considering that he went missing from a whole week and his former parents new found interest in him the idea of some ANBU or maybe even Jounin keeping an eye on him was completely possible, and of course the young prentice of Zeref would not risk anyone knowing anything related to his sensei if he could help it

So Naruto ended up spending most of his time that day in the academy, just reading some books that he found interesting. The young blonde decided that he would have to find a way to step u his ninja training since, in comparison to his magical training, it was mostly just the basics. Sadly for him the library didn't have a lot about jutsu, just the most simple's elemental techniques and the different exercises to practice elemental manipulation. Of course Naruto didn't know his elemental affinity, although he guessed that lightning might be one of them in the case he had more than one, so it wasn't much the young blonde could do unless he got his hand on some chakra paper, which was highly unlikely, so Naruto ended up simply memorizing the step of every exercise to practice them later, since he read that it would help his chakra control, which was, in Naruto's opinion, quite good. The young apprentice of Zeref had already mastered water walking and was now doing the kunai balancing exercise while being on water, something that he found quite challenging

Naruto spent his time in the library until it got quite late, and since he was still paranoid about the idea of some ANBU tailing him the young dragon slayer had no choice but to go to his former house. Of course that presented the problem of having to be in the same house as his blood relatives, but Naruto simply decided that he will ignore them completely and hoped that they would do the same

It wasn't that easy though

As soon as he had gotten home he was greeted by none other than Kushina, who looked worse to wear. She looked like she had been crying all day, her eyes red and puffy. The young blonde didn't know nor care where the rest of his family was, although he guessed that Minato was probably doing some last minute paperwork or something like that. Naruto believed that Kushina had wanted to say something to him, considering how her mouth opened and closed as soon as he entered the house. He didn't care about anything of that though, so he had simply given her a stiff nod before ignoring her completely and going straight to his former room, missing the way fresh tears escaped her eyes

Naruto was just glad that no one else had bothered him that night, and that, like always, he had woken up earlier than them, which made quite easy the task of acting oblivious of their existence.

He had sat himself in the same seat he always had in the Academy, and just like he predicted Sasuki had wanted some answers as soon a she got in the classroom. Naruto had barely managed to convince her to wait until lunch to hear his explanation. Class became a little more annoying for the young blonde; after all he could feel the multiples looks he received from his fellow classmates. Luckily for him no one tried to ask him anything, although he had to say that receiving a glare from an angry Sasuki Uchiha since the start of class was definitely not something he wanted to experience for the few months he still had to spend on the Academy.

Naruto was taken out of his thoughts when someone made itself known in front in him. Naruto was sitting in the ground, so this person was blocking the sun from hitting him quite a bit. When the young blonde looked up he was greeted by the scowling form of his best female friend (which wasn't saying much), Sasuki Uchiha.

The young raven haired girl was standing just in front of Naruto, her arms crossed over her developing chest, her eyes in the form of a vicious glare that would probably make a lot of the other boys and girls from of his age, and probably some adults too, to shiver in fear and her right foot taping the ground, obviously showing that she was impatient for some reason.

For a few moments both Naruto and Sasuki just looked at each other in the eyes, emotionless blue meeting angry black, without saying anything. Of course Naruto knew what se probably wanted, but it wasn't his style to start a conversation, so he would just let het ask what she wanted to ask and answer as truthfully as he could, without revealing anything about Zeref that is

"Well?" asked Sasuki, her voice low and with an edge on it, making it quite obvious that any wrong answer might receive a powerful fireball in response.

"Well what?" was Naruto's comeback. Now even though the young blonde would normally not do this kind of stuff, he had to admit that getting on Sasuki's nerves was one of the few enjoyable things he had.

"Stop playing games with me Namikaze! Where the hell were you this past week!? All but yelled Sasuki and Naruto could swear he heard her growl after it.

Said blonde, deciding that it was best to stop annoying the violent young woman, stopped eating and started telling his little story, adding more details, knowing that it would stop Sasuki from getting too suspicious. Naruto told her how he had gone into the Forest of Death to train from a week. He told her how that was something he had been planning to do for a week.

During the whole tale Sasuki's eyes remained in her glare and she had stopped tapping her foot. Her eyes had widened for a second when he told her about the Forest of Death before going back to her angry eyes. It was after finishing his story that Naruto saw a change in Sasuki's body lowered her head, making her hair shadow her eyes, before speaking in a voice as low as a whisper

"Baka..." Said Sasuki, in a voice so low Naruto barely heard her. Now this actually made Naruto worry, after all he was expecting some yelling and a little bit of cursing from her part, not this, so the young blonde stood up and put his hand on her shoulder, his face a mask of calmness but you could see and hear the worry in his eyes and voice

"Sasuki..." was the only thing Naruto manage to say before the young black eyed girl actually lunged at him. Of course the young blonde was not expecting this, so there was nothing he could to stop himself from falling backward in the floor of the rooftop, his head hitting it _hard_, which made him close his eyes.

When Naruto opened his eyes his normal emotionless expression was replaced by one of actual shock and surprise. The reason for that was because of the angry form on Sasuki that was above him, her hands supporting her at each side of his face and her face just a few inches away from his. Her eyes were even fiercer now, but Naruto could swear that he saw them a little moist, something that surprised Naruto even more, after all he had never seen Sasuki cry.

"You baka" Sasuki's voice was that of a whisper, but Naruto could feel both the anger and sadness in it "I thought something had happened to you. I was worried sick about you. The only thing people told me when I asked is that you had simply gone missing! _Missing!_ For a whole week Naruto! For a moment I thought something terrible had happened to you, you big baka! I heard Onii-sama saying that you have probably been kidnapped or worse, _killed!_ And yet here you are, telling me that you were simply training for the whole week in a place like The Forest of Death! Onii-sama and Okaa-sama told me about that place! What in Kami's name were you thinking in going to a place like that alone!? Why didn't you tell me!? Why do you keep hiding stuff from me like that!? Aren't we supposed to be friends!?" Sasuki's voice became louder after every word to the point she was practically yelling at him

All of it was true. Sasuki had been more than worried for her blonde friend every since he missed Academy at the start of the week. It didn't help that her Onii-sama could not tell her anything about how the search went. Whatever she had heard it was just because she overheard it. Of course Naruto's explanation had definitely not help the poor girl at all, so her reaction wasn't really surprising.

Meanwhile Naruto finally understood his friend reaction. Every since he had met the girl he had believed that she saw him as nothing but an acquaintance, or maybe just a sparring partner. Even when he had said that they were friends Naruto had believed that he was the only one that considered their relationship as such. But if her words and behavior just now were any indication then she too saw him as a friend. Now that just made Naruto felt like a real baka, just like she had said. He had hurt her even though he had not done it on purpose. He knew he had to fix this, after all, besides Zeref, Sasuki was his most important person in this village, and seeing her hurt like this was something that he definitely didn't like at all.

"I'm sorry" Were the only words Naruto could say at this moment. While he definitely wanted to fix this he didn't knew how. It was not something that made the young blonde proud but when it came to things like this he was definitely inexperienced

It's not like his sensei had prepared him to deal with angry or sad females.

At hearing his words Sasuki just looked at him directly at his eyes, apparently looking for something. What, Naruto didn't know, but she had apparently found it since she just released a sad sigh before speaking

"Just... don't do it again" said Sasuki while rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, and Naruto found himself vowing to do his best to never make Sasuki sad again. After all if there was something Zeref had taught him was that you had to do your best to protect the people you care about, and Sasuki was definitely on the top of that list of people.

"I'm I interrupting something? You two might want to go to somewhere more private" said a voice that surprised both Naruto and Sasuki. Said voice turned out to be none other than Shikamaru Nara, who was looking at them with his normal lazy gaze. However what he said finally made both Sasuki and Naruto realize what kind of position they were. Sasuki was straddling Naruto's waist while the blondes hand had found their way towards Sasuki's hips. There was also the fact that their faces were too close to each other

Yes, definitely a position that would make people misunderstand

With a something that sounded like a squeak Sasuki jumped out of Naruto's grasp, her face as red as a tomato and her eyes looking at everywhere but her blonde friend while Naruto simply stood up, not seeing what the big deal was. Meanwhile Shikamaru simply shook his head, muttering something about troublesome blondes and girls

It was after a few minutes that the trio found themselves eating calmly in the rooftop, although Sasuki would sometimes look at Naruto for a few seconds before blushing a little bit and looking away with a huff. Meanwhile the young blonde was just happy that he didn't have to explain anything else

Or at least that what he thought

"So, Naruto, what happened to your hair... and eyes... and those whisker marks that were on your cheeks?" asked Shikamaru, getting the attention of Sasuki who looked very interested in what Naruto's answer was going to be

Meanwhile the young blonde could not contain the sigh that escaped his lips at hearing that question; he should have known that nothing was _that_ easy

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile, in the Uzumaki-Namikaze residence_

Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze was feeling completely horrible with herself. And how could she not? The conversation she had with her son was still haunting her mind, in fact she actually shed some tears every time she thought about it. And she had ended up coming with one simply conclusion.

He hated her. Her baby boy hated both her and his father. Just that mere thought made her hearth twist painfully. How terrible of a mother could she have been to him to the point of him hating here that much? She had tried. She had tried all day long to think of any moment in which she had actually been with her oldest son, but she came out with nothing. It was something she couldn't understand, every time she tried to remember anything related to Naruto everything became blurry, almost like he hadn't existed before. But that was ridiculous, so Kushina could do nothing but blame herself for driving her son to the point in which he wanted nothing to do with her and Minato

She had been a disaster yesterday. After hearing Naruto's words she had done nothing but to cry on Minato's shoulder. Her husband had tried to act calm by telling her that everything was going to be alright and that they would fix this, but Kushina was not fooled. She could see how Naruto's words had hurt him just as much as it hurt her. But Minato wad right. They were going to fix this. They _had_ to fix this. They owed Naruto that much. She was going to find a way to make amends to him. She just couldn't bare the fact that one of her son hated her, but she knew that it was both her and Minato's fault, so she will do everything in her power to fix her relationship with her son.

She was an Uzumaki after all, and if there was something Uzumaki's cared about the most it was their family. She had already failed as a mother to Naruto. But she wasn't going to fail again. She was his mother, whether he liked or not, and she was going to do her best to repair their relationship. It didn't matter if she ended up hurting herself a lot in the process, she would be there for her son, no matter what

What Kushina didn't know was that her husband was having similar thoughts back in his office. So she wasn't going to be the only one trying her best to make amend to Naruto.

Sadly for both Kushina and Minato they would never known that the real reason for their neglect on their son was because of a bigger plan. A plan in which they were nothing but pawns whose task was already fulfilled

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office_

Just like his wife, Minato Namikaze was having some thoughts about his relationship with his eldest son, Naruto, or to be more precise the lack of one.

What in Kami's name had made him ignore his son to the point of Naruto denying him as his father? What has gotten into his mind? How could he had done something like that? What kind of father was he? Those were the thought that plagued the Hokage's mind right now, showing that just like his wife he was deeply ashamed of his action towards the eldest of his triplets.

And how could he not be? His children were his pride and joy and yet he had mistreated one of them to the point of him not wanting anything to do with his family. Minato sighed before looking at the picture of his family that he always had in his desk. Now normally this picture would always bring a smile to the powerful shinobi, but this time it did nothing but to bring even more shame and sadness to him. The reason for that was because in this particular picture you could se both him and his wife happily smiling, while in front of them were Menma, Mito and Natsumi, the three of them showing different amount of happiness. It was taken the day that both Menma and Mito started the Academy. But it was only yesterday that Minato noticed what was wrong with this _perfect_ image of his family

Naruto wasn't in it

Minato released a sad sigh, rubbing the bridge of ho nose with his fingers. It was in moments like this that he would ask for advice to his sensei or his predecessor, but Jiraiya wasn't in the village because of his spy network and he didn't fell comfortable talking about it with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Kami knows how the man known as God of Shinobi would react to a father neglecting his child

Minato was sure of something though. He would find a way to earn his son's forgiveness just like he had told his wife. He knew there had to be a way, even though it would probably be hard Minato had the hope that Naruto would found in his hearth to forgive them if they showed that they truly regretted what they had done.

With another sigh the blonde man started once again working in his paperwork. Now while normally it was something Minato hated with passion, this time he found it distracting enough. Something that would made him forget a little about the entire problem he now had.

At the end of the day though, his problems will always come back to haunt his thoughts.

And he had no other choice but to accept that

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Back at the Academy_

Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze was a confused and conflicted young lady. Of course this didn't show in her appearance but in her thoughts. And all of her thoughts right now were of no one but her dear Naruto-Onii-san

Don't make mistakes. Mito loved her whole family. Even if Menma could be annoying sometimes she knew he had a good and loyal hearth. Sadly that went out of the window every time the subject of Naruto touched Menma, something that Mito could not understand. They were both brothers right? So why Menma had to insult her Naruto-Onii-san every time he could? That really pissed of the young red-head. After all if there was something that she disliked more than anything else in this world it was when someone insulted her dear brother

Now this might confuse a lot of people, after all if you were to ask anyone they would say that the relationship between Mito and Naruto was strained at best. While this was in fact true (Some would say 'strained' was not the right word) it didn't reflect Mito's true feelings towards her brother at all.

And what were those feelings? Simple, they were of nothing but love and concern. Yes, Mito loved her brother with all her hearth. In fact this past week had been one of the hardest for the young red-head. She almost had a panic attack once her parents had told her that Naruto had gone missing. Mito was not dumb of course. She knew exactly how bad the relationship between Naruto and her parents were. Heck, she was pretty sure that Naruto didn't even live in the house anymore. In fact the only reason Mito had not told her parents or even questioned Naruto himself was because she at least saw him at the Academy almost every day. In fact at her first year in the Academy she had even threatened some boys, who were lead by Kiba Inuzuka, that if they ever bullied Naruto they would meet her fury.

Sufis to say that the boys were too scared to even consider bully Naruto

Now you may wonder, why she acted the way she did towards Naruto if she in fact cared about him a lot. The answer to that brought nothing but shame and regret to the young red-head. It was definitely a decision that she had regretted every since she was convinced of acting so cold towards her brother, just like the rest of her family.

It was something that happened after hearing a conversation between her Tou-san and her perverted godfathers/unofficial grandfather. She wasn't supposed to hear it at all, but the young red-head had ended up spying on them after hearing them talking in her Tou-san's office from the kitchen.

To put it simple, they both talked about how a group of S-Rank criminals called Akatsuki were going to hunt the Jinchurikis in order to get the power of their Bijuus Kami's know for what reason. Now hearing that a group formed of peoples so strong were hunting people like you was something that deeply affected young Mito a lot, and considering the fact that she was just seven when she heard it, it was definitely something that would rock her world a lot.

It was with that news and the still fresh memories of the nightmare she had before, which was the reason she had gone to the kitchen in the first place, which actually consisted on her losing control on the Kyubi's power and attacking her family that the young violet-eyed girl tried to sleep.

It was more than obvious that she didn't sleep very well

No. It wasn't because of the fact that she couldn't sleep at all. In fact she actually felt asleep quite fast. No, it was because of what happened once he felt asleep. At the beginning she had thought it was just another weird nightmare, but such an event could not be described as a dream

After all it was the first time she met the Kyubi sealed inside of her.

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Unknown Place, 7 years ago_

_A seven year old Mito was nothing but confused and a little scared. Why? Because she had just gotten to sleep after hearing some shocking information that she was sure she shouldn't have heard, but as soon as she closed her eyes she found herself in one of the weirdest places she had ever been_

_This place could be described as a long corridor, with completely white walls, ceiling and floor. The walls were divided in sections by silver pillars. In each section you could find a little light ball just at the middle of it, illuminating the whole place. Just above each little light was the symbol of the Uzumaki clan. The whole place looked like it was made or marble._

_Mito was more than confused at seeing this place, after all she had never been here in her life. How had she gotten here in the first place? Wasn't she in her house a few seconds ago? For a moment she thought this might be another dream, but she scratched that possibility rather quickly, after all this place felt just too... real, to be called a dream_

_The young red-head didn't know why, but she felt like something was calling her at the end of the white path. Not knowing what else to do at this point the young girl started walking with trepidation towards what she believed was the deepest part of this strange place._

_It was after walking for a few minutes that Mito found herself in front of something she wasn't expecting: A cage. Said cage was as big as the room itself and it had completely black bars. Just at the middle of the cage was what looked like a piece of paper with something written on it that looked like the kanji for 'seal'_

**_"So, my dear jailer finally decides to show herself in front of me"_**_spoke a deep voice from the cage, almost making Mito to jump in surprise. Just after hearing those words a big pair of red eyes appeared inside of the cage, followed by a set of razor teeth in the form of a big, menacing grin. Now while Mito was not a scary-cat, this was still something that made her eyes widen in surprise in fear, after all she didn't have any idea of what this thing was._

_Apparently her young mind had decided to ignore the fact that there were bars between them_

**_"What happen little girl? Did the fox eat you tongue?"_**_spoke once again the weird being, chuckling quite darkly at seeing the little human to paralyze in fear. Meanwhile Mito was doing her best to try and calm her nerves to try to produce some words that weren't screams of panic_

_She was failing a little bit though_

_"W-who are y-you" asked the girl quite meekly, something that was not common for her, but considering the circumstance it was understandable. However this question got nothing but a growl from the being behind the bars, making the young red-head a little more nervous than she already was_

**_"Great. The little runt doesn't even know who's sealed inside of her. Of all humans that stupid Hokage could have sealed me inside of he had to do it in a dumb tomato girl that's about to piss herself. Why don't you use that head of yours and figure out by yourself, unless that's a task too hard for an hairless monkey like you"_**_said the monster, his red eyes looking at Mito like she was nothing but a little ant that he would step on just for fun_

_If only he could_

_It took a few moments for the words to register in Mito's mind, but when they did she started putting everything together. The fact that she had fallen asleep just before getting here. How weird this place was and felt. The big cage with the seal tag on and of course, the angry looking being in front of her._

_"You're the... Kyubi" announced Mito, her voice barely above a whisper, but it was apparently high enough for the now revealed Kyubi no Yoko to hear, considering how his grin became even wider_

**_"Well it looks like there's still hope for you, you little dimwit. I can only hope you won't be a dumb as that other walking tomato bitch that you call mother was, Kami knows this world doesn't need more people like her going around."_**_said the Kyubi, his voice dripping nothing but malice. This time though, the different insults finally got to Mito's head, both these ones and the previous ones, and to say she was pissed of would be an understatement_

_"You take that back!" yelled the angry red-head, obviously not liking the different insults directed at her and her mother. Mito was definitely not as hot-heated like Menma was, but not even her could just stand there while someone like the Kyubi of all beings started insulting her family. The fear that Mito felt before was no replaced by both anger and confidence. That confidence was the result of her knowing that the Kyubi could not do anything to harm her because of the seal, which meant she was completely safe here_

_Or are least that what she hoped_

**_"Ohh, looks like the little runt here likes to bark. Please tell me little girl, what will you do if I don't? Yell at me until your lungs go without air? Let me tell you something little girl, I had the horrible pleasure of hearing your mother having you _****and ****_making you with that blonde monkey you call a father, so at this point I'm immune to your Uzumaki bitche's screams and moans"_**_mocked the Kyubi, his voice getting a tone of disgust at the end of it. That had to be one of the fox more horrible experiences in his long life, having to hear his former jailer and her mate go at it like bunnies in heat. It was just his bad luck that the seal would become weak enough for him to hear and sometimes feel what Kushina was experiencing while mating. He didn't even what to think about how his first jailer was with that stupid_**_Mokuton (Wood Release)_**_user._

_She was worse!_

_Of course that declaration made Mito blush completely red, making her face actually resemble a ripped tomato. She knew what the Kyubi was talking about, after all her mother had already given her 'The Talk'. Of course she never imagined that this was going to be the theme of her first conversation with the bijuu sealed in her gut. The young red-head shock her head, tying to get rid of what the Kyubi just said and started taking some calming breaths, knowing that if she lost her temper the damn fox would just keep mocking her_

_"Where are we anyway?" asked Mito, deciding to not let the Kyubi to get a raise from her. Of course the young red-headed girl had an idea of where they were, but she wanted to get a confirmation from the Kyubi, who just scoffed at hearing that question_

**_"And here I was thinking you had a brain, I guess I shouldn't had gotten my hopes so high"_**_cue for angry glare from Mito, although the Kyubi either didn't notice or didn't care_**_"If you must know, this place is your subconscious"_**

_"But how did I ended up here?" asked Mito to herself, after all she knew that to enter once subconscious you needed a lot of practice in different arts, something that she had yet to have_

**_"I called you"_**_replied the Kyubi, getting a surprised expression from Mito. Just after that the powerful bijuu moved so that Mito could see his whole body, including the nine-tailed that gave him his name behind him. He was just as her mother and father had described him, the only difference was that his fur was brown instead of orange, something that confused her_

_"And why would you do that? And how did you even manage to do something like that? Tou-san's seal shouldn't let you!" asked Mito, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Of course both her and her brother had tried to get in contact with the Kyubi before during training with their parents, but neither of them had managed to do it, so why would the Kyubi call her like this? It made no sense in her opinion_

**_"Well, lets just say that your inner turmoil let an opening in the seal"_**_answered the Kyubi, getting a shocked expression from Mito. Of course what Mito didn't know was that the Kyubi was not telling her the complete true. In reality the seal of the Shinigami, for some reason, became weaker a few moments ago, just after he received a visit from that weird servant of his. The guy had said nothing, he just smiled at him before tweaking the seal a little bit, letting the Kyubi know what his jailer had just found about the Akatsuki. Of course the Kyubi had demanded an explanation from the white haired man, but the only thing he got was an introduction, an annoying smile, him altering the seal and then practically threatening him about revealing what he done here, just before winking and leaving like he was never here to begin with_

_Now this left a completely confused Kyubi, who ended up deciding to not look at the horse's mouth. After all it's not like he could question the man again. So the powerful bijuu simply decided to accept the gift he got and call her jailer here, after all if there was an organization hunting Jinchurikis then he needed to make sure his jailer wasn't as weak as he believed she was, after all if she got caught it probably meant death for the him._

_And he pretty much liked to live, even if he had to tolerate the stupid females of the Uzumaki clan._

**_"And about my reason to call you here, well I believe it's quite obvious at this point don't you think? Akatsuki"_**_revealed the Kyubi, lowering his head so that it was at the same level of Mito's body, his red eyes looking directly at Mito's violet._

**_"Well? What are you going to do about the group of psycho ninjas you have on your tail little girl?"_**

_"I'll face them of course. If they try to get me then I will train hard to be able to beat them! I won't let a group of criminals hurt me of my family just because of you!" answered Mito quite passionately; after all she wouldn't let anyone harm her family. She would protect them!_

**_"Is that so? Well let me be the one with the revelation then: at this rate you won't be strong enough to face them"_**

_"What do you mean by that? I know I'm not strong enough yet, but if a keep training I will..." Mito's speech was stopped because of the angry growl the Kyubi made. Apparently the bijuu was not amused by Mito's word, and he would make it quite clear_

**_"Training? while I'll admit you might get strong enough if you train, there still one factor that's holding you down little girl, and we both know who is it: that useless older brother of yours"_**_said the Kyubi, getting another shocked expression from Mito. Said expression went from shocked to one of complete rage quite fast though_

_"Leave Naruto-Nii-san out of this! And don't you dare talk about him like that!" screeched Mito, a hateful glare directed at the Kyubi's eyes, who didn't even seem surprised by the young girls reaction. Who could he be surprised considering that in the little time that man had altered his seal he had looked at some of his jailers thoughts and memories and he was tired of how almost all of them were centered on that brother of her! She was borderline obsessed about him at this point! And there was no way the Kyubi would let this go, after all it was a distraction that he could not let the girl had_

**_"You know I'm right little girl. How are you supposed to get strong when you spent almost every second of your live thinking about that Naruto brother of yours? For Kami's sake, you even skip training sometimes with a lame excuse just to spend time with him! Well that needs to end! My survival depends on you getting strong enough you little monkey, so I won't have you going all weak just because you have an obsession on your brother!"_**_said the Kyubi with a snarl, both of his claw/hands grapping the bars of the cage tightly._

_Meanwhile Mito became red-faced at hearing the Kyubi's rant; whether it was because of anger or embarrassment the Kyubi didn't know nor care." I'm not obsessed with my brother!" said the girl, although it was quite obvious that the Kyubi didn't believe her" And he needs me! He doesn't have anybody else in the family" ended Mito sadly with a downcast look. What she was saying was true after all. Mito wasn't stupid, she knew that her brother was treated unfairly by both her parents and her other siblings. She had tried to change that by talking to her parents but whatever she said concerning Naruto always ended in deft hears. Menma wasn't helping at all and she was doing her best so that Natsumi wouldn't end up like him, which was quite difficult. In the end Mito had decided to do her best so that her brother felt at least some love in the family, which was the reason she spent a lot of time with him. She loved her Naruto-Nii-san deeply and seeing him sad because of their parents of Menma always brought sadness to her heart._

_Meanwhile the Kyubi had decided to change his approach here. He should have known this girl cared too much for that Naruto monkey. But maybe he could use that to his advantage? Yes, indeed he could_

**_"It seems you're not getting it in that thick skull that you call a head. Let me explained so that even an idiot like you can understand_****"**_cue for another glare from the girl_**_"This Akatsuki organization won't stop at nothing to get to you. You know what that means? It means that they will do anything to catch you! I'm sure they are not above taking hostages..."_**_said the Kyubi, and it only took a few seconds for Mito to understand what he meant by that, which got a gasp and a horrified expression from her, which made the Kyubi to chuckle mentally_

**_"It seems you're finally understanding little girl. Now while I'm sure that brother of yours who has my other half and your sister will be able to stand a chance considering that they are being train by your parents, your other brother is a different case. He's being trained by no one. He will be an easy prey for the Akatsuki, especially if they know that by getting him they would be able to get to you."_**_revealed the powerful Bijuu, his eyes looking at how stricken Mito looked at the information she just got_

_Meanwhile the young girl was thinking about the words of the Kyubi. He was right, she thought. If there was really an organization of S-class Nin hunting her and Menma then the rest of her family was in danger! And Naruto was, even though she hated to admit her, the easiest of them to capture. What could she do to protect him? She already tried to tell her parent to include Naruto in the training but, just like always they didn't heard her. What if something happened to her Nii-san because they were looking for her? She would never forgive herself if the Akatsuki got their hands on her dear brother. She wouldn't let them!_

**_"If you want to protect your brother..."_**_now as soon as the Kyubi said this he got Mito's full attention, and just like that the fox knew he had her on his claws_**_"...then I have an idea"_**

_"What is it!?" Mito knew she shouldn't be trusting someone like the Kyubi for this, but she could not think of anyone else. Her Nii-san was her most precious person in this world and she would do anything to protect him!_

**_"This is what you need to do..."_**

_Even if it meant hurting him in the process_

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

Mito sighed sadly. Remembering that meeting and the fact that she had actually listened to the Kyubi always made her hate herself. Basically the fox had told her that her family would always be targeted by the Akatsuki, and that the only way of protecting Naruto was to make sure he was as far away from his family as he could. For this the Kyubi had told her that, since she was the only one treating Naruto as a member of the family, if she started treating him badly too he would, sooner or later, leave their family for good, which would make him safer

Now of course Mito had protested, telling him that she would never hurt her brother on purpose. The Kyubi had replied by saying that if she truly cared about Naruto then she would be willing to do anything in order to protect him. He also told her that by doing this she would be able to focus on her training more, which would definitely help her in order to fight against the Akatsuki once they appear. The Kyubi also told her that if she went with his plan he would make her easier to use his chakra, so that she had a better chance at surviving.

Mito didn't want to follow his plan, but after thinking about it she reached to the conclusion that he was right. A part of her thought of training him personally, but the Kyubi cut that idea quite fast, saying that it would take too much of her time and that she couldn't teach stuff she was barely learning herself, so in the end Mito had no choice but to accept the Kyubi's proposal, which explains her change in behavior towards Naruto when they were seven years old.

Seeing her brother's safe face when she acted cold towards him was one of the things that hurt Mito the most, but she had to do it. If Naruto ended up separating from their family completely then that would make him safer, and that was what Mito wanted most than anything

Of course she had always had second thoughts of her decision of acting so cold toward her dear Nii-san, but she held herself firm to the believe she was doing what was best for him. Of course that changed when Naruto disappeared for a whole week.

To say that Mito was worried would be an understatement. She even blamed herself, thinking that Naruto had decided to leave the village of something because of their family. She believed that if she had paid more attention to him then she wouldn't have let him go missing like he did. Of course when he finally appeared yesterday she was more than happy, and the first thing she wanted to do was to go where he was and hug him like no tomorrow. She controlled herself though, knowing that Naruto probably resented her.

Those believe was supported by how her mother acted the rest of the day. She looked so fragile and lost. Even though she tried to act like nothing had happened Mito could easily see that whatever Naruto had say to her had hurt her deeply. That actually scared Mito a lot. She didn't know what she would do if Naruto told her that he hated her, even though she knew it would be her fault for listening to the Kyubi it was still something that scared her a lot.

So right now Mito was having an internal conflict. A part of her wanted to go and talk to her Naruto-Nii-san, to make sure he was ok and to make sure that he would not do anything as stupid as disappear for a whole week Kami knows where. Heck, a part of her wanted to follow him just to make sure he wasn't doing anything dangerous or bad. But she was also scared. Scared of her brother reaction towards her. She was scare of him not wanting to have anything with her. And she was definitely scared of him hating her.

Because Mito was not sure what she would do if the person she loved the most in this world told her that he hated her

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile, in an Unknown Place_

The Shinigami was floating in a dark void, apparently deep in thought. His plan was coming alone with nicely, at least it was if what Alcor was reporting was correct. And he knew he was correct, after all his little servant would never dare himself to lie to him

Not like he could do it in the first place

The Shinigami was not the only one with servants though. No, his two siblings had their own little entourage too. It was a necessity for the gods to have servants for different reasons. The first one of them was quite simply: The gods could not go to _any_ world unless they were called, or summoned, by the habitants of those worlds.

It was one of the rules that the trio of gods had to follow. The gods were hardly omnipotent like the humans of some of the worlds thought of them. It wasn't that they didn't have power, because they were the most powerful being in existence. It was because they couldn't use all that power like they wanted. No, there where a set list of rules that the three of them had to follow, unless they wanted to be destroyed by the other two gods of course.

This was the reason of why the needed servants. They worked as their eyes and hear in the different world, or at least that was the job the Shinigami gave to his servants, after all unlike his brother and sister he didn't have the interest in humans to look at them for all eternity like they did. Of course the servants themselves had rules, but they were fewer that the rules for the gods. One of the rules the servants had to follow was to never cause too much change in the different world. Of course they could do minor stuff there, which the Shinigami was sure was the job a lot of the servants of his brother and sister had, but nothing major like destroying a world for example

He was sure that Yami would be the first one to send his servants to do that if it wasn't because of that rule

That didn't meant there weren't other ways for his only brother to cause the chaos he enjoyed so much. That was one of the reason the Shinigami had sent Zeref into that world. The Shinigami knew that Yami was planning something, after all it was him the one that had destroyed Zeref's home world, even if it was indirectly

That was just the thing he liked to do. While Kami was the goddess of Light and Hope, Yami was the god of Darkness and Despair. Those two always had a war going between them. Yami would try to use his servants in order to destroy a world but Kami would stop him using her servants. Meanwhile the Shinigami would always stay in the side-lines, just watching and making sure that the balance was kept, after all the only thing he wanted were souls, and that was something he would get no matter what

Of course everything changed when one of Yami's plans actually worked and a whole world ended up destroying by that abomination that E.N.D was. Zeref didn't know it, but he had been nothing but a pawn in one of Yami's schemes, one that actually worked.

To say that the complete annihilation of the population of a world had affected the gods would be an understatement.

Kami became weak. She was now nothing but a shell of her former self. Of course being the goddess of hope and love and all good feelings in general made the destruction of a world quite hard for her, after all both her and Yami got their powers from the humans, and even if it was only one world between many, it still affected Kami quite bad.

Meanwhile Yami was the complete opposite. This was the first time a world was actually destroyed completely, and Yami had felt more powerful than ever. Just like his title implied he feed on the despair on humans, and of course nothing brought more despair than when human were killed. So of course when a world got destroyed completely Yami would feel it. It wasn't only for that though. No, the Shinigami was sure that the fact that the world was destroyed by E.N.D had made it different. After all both Yami and E.N.D felt just too... alike

And now that Kami was weak and Yami was acting like a kid with a sugar high it meant that the Shinigami had to act. He couldn't let Yami to destroy another world after all. It wasn't productive for the God of Death after all. While he had liked all the souls he had gotten thanks to E.N.D killing spree, the Shinigami was a practical being and he always liked to thing for the long-run, and a world destroyed didn't help the Shinigami at all. After all a world without humans meant no new souls would be produced there, and that was something the Shinigami would not tolerate

It was for that reason he sent Zeref to the world known as his inhabitants in the Elemental Nations after giving him some simple instructions. The Shinigami knew that whatever Yami was going to do now was in that world, after all he could _feel_ that other monster Yami called a servant on that world, and if he was there then it meant all hell will break lose. And without Kami to do anything at this point it meant that the Shinigami would have to act.

Zeref primary mission was to go and train young Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. The Shinigami had chosen that boy for two reasons. One was because of the boy's soul. It was strong, stronger than anything else the Shinigami had ever felt. The closest thing the Shinigami had ever felt was when Yami's favorite servant was human. Sadly Yami took that human's soul once he died and made him his servant. That human was a monster before and now under Yami's little thumb he became one of the strongest being that existed. Heck, Alcor was the Shinigami's strongest servant and he was sure Yami's pet would kill Alcor easily.

That was not a pretty good thought

The second reason was actually quite new. Kami too had taken an interest in Naruto, and if her sister took an interest in a human it meant he would normally make great changes in his world. Good or bad, who knows? But great changed indeed.

The gods could not see the future, but it was easy for the Shinigami to know where and when a powerful soul would be born. One of the jobs the Shinigami had for his servants was to make sure those souls were born, after all those were the Shinigami's favorite food.

And he would be damned if he lost one just because a servant of Kami or Yami did something stupid.

One of the things the Shinigami had made sure was that Zeref would be able to train Naruto once the child was born. For this he went great lengths. He would have used one of his servants for this but that became unnecessary once the father of the boy summon him. Yes, the Shinigami had taken that chance and did what he believed would let Zeref get easy access to Naruto. Because he was summoned the Shinigami could do whatever he wanted with his summoned, Minato Namikaze, which normally meant taking his soul, but that wouldn't have worked for the Shinigami, after all the mother of the kid would still be alive, so the God of Death didn't take his soul. Instead he took something of equal valor to a man soul and that would help him in his plan. He took all the feelings both Minato and Kushina had for Naruto. Now normally the Shinigami would never do this, but for the sake of his plan it had to be done, and since he was called to seal that nine-tailed fox he could take whatever the hell he wanted as a form of payment. The only thing he did was not telling Minato what he took.

It was for that same reason that he had sent Alcor to alter his seal on both parts of the Kyubi. Humans were predictable, and the Kyubi was just as predictable, so after telling Alcor what to do it was easy enough to figure what the Kyubi would do. Yes, his plan worked perfectly and now Naruto was being trained by Zeref. A boy with so much potential trained by Zeref, who once had a lot of potential too, would be a force to be reckon with, and the Shinigami needed someone like that to stop his stupid brother's plan

Of course the Shinigami was no evil, once he had seen that Zeref had already started training Naruto he had gave back to both Minato and Kushina their feelings towards Naruto, after all they might be useful for the boy in the future and the Shinigami needed Naruto to have every little advantage he could had. That was one of the reason that the Shinigami had for giving Zeref that blade of souls. It was a good tool that both Zeref and Naruto would need sooner or later

Right now there was not much the Shinigami could do but to wait. All the pieced were already in the field and sadly it was Yami's turn to play. But knowing his brother he would do little to interfere in the Shinigami's plan. After all that man was a psychopath that enjoyed causing despair in every world he could, but there was one feeling he loved even most, one that practically made him a walking contradiction

What Yami loved even more than to made people feel despair, was for him to feel despair

And what better way of feeling despair than to see your plans ruined in front of you?

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

**Well this has to be my longest chapter to date. I want to apologize for taking so long in update. I don't want to make excuses, but the reasons for that was because of my new fic (don't worry people, I will focus on this one more) and the fact that I had to re-write this chapter a lot. And even after that there still something about this chapter I don't like. I just felt it could have been better**

**Now, a lot of people had asked me to add Mito (Naruto's sister, not the Shodaime Hokage's wife) to the pairing. Now just like I told them this fic could easily work with or without her in the harem, and for that I'm putting a poll shortly, so if you want her in the harem, or don't then you better go and vote**

**Another thing I had gotten question and suggestion was about the theme of the teams. Next chapter will have that and all the teams had already been decided. I was having doubts about Naruto's teams but a suggestion from a friend and a review ended up convincing me about whom to put with Naruto.**

**Some people might not like the whole fact that I put the gods in this fics. Well, if you don't like that then this might not be the fic for you. While the gods won't appear for a while after this chapter it won't mean they aren't important. Just as the final part of this chapter suggested, they are behind a lot of thing of this fic.**

**Again, thank to the reviewers (last chapter was the most reviewed of this fic, yaii), and to those that followed and favorite this fic.**

**Next Chapter: First Killings, meetings with some youngsters, graduation from the Academy and the team test.**


	8. Birth of Team 7

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama'**Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

**_"Rasengan"_** Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any source of way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima and their respective owners**

**Chapter 7**

**Birth of Team 7**

_Two months later, the Ninja Academy_

It has been two months since Naruto last went to train with his sensei, Zeref, in the place dubbed as training room and the young blonde found himself having mixed feelings about it

For once part he was both frustrated and disappointed by the fact that he couldn't go and train with his father figure. More than once he had wanted to simply go to his apartment and then use the magic circle that was there to go and train. Sadly his theory of ANBUs following proved to be correct. He could not see them of course, but after a few days of his 'return from the Forest of Death' as the people he had told that story believed he managed to feel the presence of two ANBUs while meditating. It wasn't easy but it proved his earlier doubts, so for the time being Naruto had to act as low as he could

Of course this brought the fact that he ended up staying in the house of his former family, which meant that he ended up seeing them more than he would have liked. The only thing he hoped was that they took a hint and didn't bother him

Sadly, he wasn't that lucky

For starters both Minato and Kushina had tried to include him in every little thing they did together with their children. From their family meals to their training time they had tried to make him a part of it. This didn't work though. Naruto would spend nothing but the minimum time he had to spend in that house. He would always just tell them a simple 'no' when they tried make him join the training. He didn't want to owe them anything. He didn't need nor want their help for training. The was also the fact that training with them might make him reveal his true skills and that was something he didn't want to do until he had to

He had to eat though and he couldn't eat outside forever, so in more than one occasion he ended up eating dinner with the whole family. That was an experience that Naruto found both annoying and a test to his self-control. Both Minato and Kushina would of course try to make him join the different conversation that went of the dinner table and he would do his best to ignore that. Meanwhile both Menma and Mito would give him quite the looks. Menma would glare at him in almost every meal while Mito would give some piercing looks when she though he wasn't paying attention

He was.

Natsumi on the other hand would always act like there was nothing wrong with the world. Apparently the little hamster, as Naruto called her in his mind, could not detect the tension that appeared every time Naruto was in a room with anyone of her family. The youngest Uzumaki-Namikaze would always try to become Naruto's shadow as soon as he entered the house, which sometimes was too early for his liking, and try to tail him and ask a bunch of question so fast that he couldn't even understand some of her questions. He did manage to pick up the fact, before he closed the door of his room in her face, that she thought he was 'cooler' than Menma and that the black part of his hair made him look cute

He disagreed

From all of his former family Natsumi was the member that Naruto was more conflicted about. He didn't see her as family just like the rest though, but in the end Naruto was not an irrational person. No, he had thought about the behavior of his blood relatives a lot in the past and he had ended up reaching the conclusion that Natsumi's behavior towards him was both her parents and Menma's faults. More Menma's than anyone, after all Naruto remembered how Menma would instruct Natsumi about how to treat him, and without Kushina or Minato telling her that what Menma was trying to teach her was known as bullying she ended up taking her brother's words at hearth.

At least it looked like she had ended up correcting her behavior, after all Naruto control had a limit, and he didn't want to know if an energetic Natsumi throwing insults at him would make him break said self-control

His other former sister would act quite different in his presence though. Every time both Mito and him were together anywhere, which included the Academy, she would give him this weird looks every time she though he wasn't paying attention. Those eyes of her would look at him with so intense that Naruto sometimes wondered what was going in that head of hers. It was like Naruto was the center of her world for those few seconds she spent looking at him. Sometimes said looks were accompanied by her biting her lower lip and Naruto could swear that he caught her blushing more than once

That, even though Naruto would not admit it, put him on edge in more than one occasion

Menma was another matter all together. Apparently the blond had not got the memo of how to annoy Naruto since the only thing he did was to glare at him. He never said anything nor tried to do anything to Naruto, he just glared and nothing else. Of course Naruto had no problem with that, in fact he was thankful, after all a glare was something he could handle easily

But he didn't know what he would do if Menma started fawning over him like the others.

Naruto didn't spend all of his time with his former family though. Since he couldn't go to neither his apartment or the training room in fear of ANBUs finding the place and telling the Hokage he ended up training as best as he could in the many training ground that Konoha. And for those training session he was in the company of his friend Sasuki almost every time.

Apparently the young Uchiha had decided to take advantage of the fact that Naruto stopped disappearing after class everyday by spending as much time as she could with him. Of course Naruto had no complains about this, after all he actually liked spending time with Sasuki. She had been his first friend, besides Zeref of course, and Naruto truly enjoyed his time with the temperamental girl, even if more than one occasion he had to dodge some rage induced attacks thanks to one or two comments he couldn't kept in his mind

Hey, when you spend almost all of your day with someone with the emotional ability of a rock like Zeref you tend to want to see some kind of reaction to, well, anything! And Sasuki was way too easy to get a rise of, especially when she entered in what Naruto called her 'Ojou-sama' mode. Always preaching about how the Uchiha were the greatest clan ever and how he should feel glad he was speaking to someone like her

Now if only she could say that while note being face first in the ground after a spar...

One of the things that Naruto felt the worse about was the fact that he wasn't able to practice magic freely in the past two months. In fact, he hadn't even spoken to Zeref in this time, and Naruto found himself missing his fatherly figure. While being with Sasuki was good and all, there was still the fact that he was keeping a lot of secrets from her, but with his sensei he didn't have to hide anything. He was someone who Naruto could talk about anything that was on his mind, knowing that his sensei would probably give him some advice

Even if said advice was a few cryptic words that sometimes confused Naruto even more.

Another thing that kept happening the past two months, much for Naruto's internal annoyance, was his weird meetings with the woman known as Anko Mitarashi. He didn't know how or why, but the coat wearing Jounin (or at least that the rank Naruto believed she had) would just appear out of nowhere, a lot of times with dango on her hand, and would just sit in a tree in start complaining about people Naruto didn't knew while said boy trained.

The only thing Naruto was glad about was that Anko would only do that when Sasuki couldn't go and train with him after class. Naruto didn't know why, but he had a feeling that if the two of them met things would end badly

Probably for him

Naruto's training the past month had been focused in his ninja training. He could do much though, so he ended up focusing more than anything in the elemental training that he had read in the library. Of course the young blonde started doing the exercise related to the element of his first magic, lightning, which was quite simple in fact. He just had to light up a light bulb by turning his chakra into lightning through his hand. It was quite easy for Naruto to do that exercise, thanks to both his highly affinity to the element itself and to Naruto's chakra control.

After that he ended up doing the fire element exercise, since he had read that having an affinity for that particular element was quite common in Konoha. The training consisted in burning a leaf with chakra, which in theory was quite simply, but in practice Naruto actually found it harder that the lightning training, but that was not surprising, considering that he might not even had any affinity to the element. He wouldn't be certain about what his affinities were until he got some chakra paper, but he was more than sure that lightning was one of it at this point

Naruto ended up changing the fire training for the wind element training, wanting to see if trying another element would be easier or harder. Cutting a leaf using chakra proved to be a little easier than burning it up, so Naruto decided to focus on that. Considering that both of his former parents had an affinity for the element of wind, something that Naruto knew for certain since he had seen them use that type of jutsu easily before he had met Zeref, it was quite possible that he had inherited that affinity. He was now able to cut the leaf completely, but he couldn't do it as fast as he wanted, which was the reason he kept practicing.

"What has gotten in your head this time, Naruto?" asked a voice that got Naruto out of his thoughts. Like always he simply turned his attention to his right, which was were the voice has asked her question, and ended up looking at none other than Sasuki, who had an eyebrow raised in question.

"Nothing important. What about you? Nervous about today?" shot back Naruto, his neutral face looking directly at her showing no emotions, but there was still a little glint of amusement in his deep-blue eyed.

At hearing this Sasuki couldn't help but to snort while crossing her arms over her chest, her head high and a smirk forming in her lips "Please, like someone like me would fail such an easy thing. They should just give me the headband already!"

"Of course Sasuki. Just make sure to keep that ego on check. We wouldn't want for it to get to your head now would we?" was Naruto reply, which got a little glare from Sasuki before she just huffed and turned her head while muttering something about blonde bakas

Today was in fact a very important day. Today was their final day in the academy. Yes, after the graduation test today Naruto and Sasuki would finally become Genin of the village of Konoha.

Both Naruto and Sasuki were quite confident about their abilities for passing the graduation test, after all Sasuki was tied with Mito for the post of Kunoichi of the Year and Naruto was sure that he was more than ready to be a Genin. His training with Zeref had paid off and he was more than sure that he would ace this test if he so feel like it, but like always he would just what he needed to do in order to past.

Naruto took this time to observe the different other student that would also graduate today. His gaze sweep the whole classroom, lingering more in who he considered the most 'promising' soon to be Genin, which of course was made of the majority of the boys and girls raised in Shinobi families and one or two civilians

In one of the desk, which were used to hold three people, sat Menma in the middle of it, a grin on his face and joking with the boy on his right. Said boy had messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, pronounced canine teeth. He also has the distinctive red fang markings of the Inuzuka clan on his cheeks. His attire consisted on a leather form fitting black jacket, with zips over the chest and sleeves, along with black pants and sandals, also zipped, and matching the jacket. This boy was known as Kiba Inuzuka

In another desk there were three girls, all chatting quietly. In the middle of the desk was none other than Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze. At her right sat a girl with dark blue hair, fair skin and the unique eyed of the Hyuga Clan. She had straight, hime-style haircut which was waist length, with two shoulder-length strands framing her face. Her attire was comprised of a loose fitting, long-sleeved, lavender and cream zip-up jacket with lavender cuffs over mesh armor that hid her quite developed bust and navy blue pants and black, low-heeled sandals. This girl was known as Hinata Hyuga.

At Mito's left was another girl. This girl had long brown hair and light brown eyes. Her hair is straight on one side, but on the other side it is in a braid. In addition, she sports a clip with two circular designs. For her outfit she wore a pink kimono that hugged her b-cup breast, held closed by a pink sash with two pockets on the front. She also wore violet baggy pants and red mesh armor underneath her kimono and legs along with sandals that were orange in color. This girl was one of the last members of the Kurama clan, Yakumo Kurama

On another desk there were three boys. At the middle of it sat himself a boy with shoulder length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail and narrow brown eyes. His attire consisted of a green lined mesh T-shirt under a short sleeved grey jacket with green edges, adorned on both the sleeves and the back with a circle with a line through it, brown pants, and blue sandals. Besides that he also wore a pair of silver hoop earrings. This person was Naruto's second friend here in the Academy, Shikamaru Nara

To his right there was a robust guy with waist length spiky, brown hair and swirl marks on his cheeks. He was sporting a red suit with plated armor on his torso, arms, and upper legs, with the kanji for 'food' on its chest. He was also wearing a pair of small, hoop earrings. This person was known as Choji Akimichi, and right now he was doing his best to stuff his mouth with some chips

To Shikamaru's left there was another guy. This person had dark, bushy, brown hair and dark, narrow eyes that were hidden behind dark sun-glasses. His clothes covered almost al of his body. They consisted on a dark green jacket with a high, upturned collar, a hood and a satchel on his back. Besides that he had simple black ANBU pants and ninja sandals. This guy was known as Shino Aburame

In another desk a pair of girls were having a fast-paced conversation loud enough for Naruto to hear some words of it. One of these girls had fair-skin, blue eyes and long blonde hair, which was in a pony-tail, which reached her hips with a bang practically hiding one of her eyes. She had a set of fishnets on both her arms and over her knees. Along with these, she wears a short, purple, sleeveless blouse, an open-front purple apron-skirt over a shorter, black skirt, with short, fishnet shorts underneath. She also had a red clip on her hair and a pair of small silver hoop-earrings. This girl was one of the most popular girls in class, Ino Yamanaka

Alongside her there was Ino's best friend and probably the most promising civilian in the classroom. This girl had has bright pink hair, large green eyes, and fair skin. Her attire consisted of a red top with white circular designs, with black gloves, black, low-heel, calf-high boots, black shorts underneath a short grey apron skirt, and grey elbow protectors. This girl's name was Sakura Haruno.

Naruto had spent close of three years with all this people, but he hardly knew them. In fact besides Shikamaru and Sasuki, and sometimes Choji or Shino when they accompanied Shikamaru, he hadn't really spoken to any of them. He really didn't care at this point though. It's not like he dislike them or anything, but he simply didn't have time to socialize. In fact he was sure that if it wasn't thanks to Sasuki challenging him to a spar two years ago the two of them might have never become friends

It wasn't really easy to speak to them neither though. Kiba was too much of a brat sometimes for Naruto's like, and both Hinata and Yakumo were too shy and were always with Mito, which meant that talking to them would mean Mito would get into the conversation. Ino and Sakura were too... girly for his like. The fact that they were talking about make-up right now didn't help their case. Choji was friendly enough but Naruto didn't talk to him unless Shikamaru was with him, and Shino, just like Naruto himself, was a man of few words, so having a normal conversation with him would probable mean saying nothing for a few chunk of it.

Naruto knew that when he graduated he would be put on a team with other three members, so he was more than ready to try and establish a relationship of companionship and trust between him and them. He just hoped that Sasuki and Shikamaru would be part of his team; it would make things a lot easier. Of course he also hoped to not be on the same team as either Menma or Mito. He would at least act civil if it happened, but he knew that being in a team with them would create troubles sooner or later. There was also the fact that Naruto could not really trust those two, and without trust a team would fall a part rather quickly

Naruto's attention went from his classmates to the man that had just entered the classroom. This man, Iruka-sense as everyone call here him, had a set of sheets of paper in his hands. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the written part of the test was about to begin

Naruto just hoped he could finish this thing fast enough, after all once he became a Shinobi he would be declared as an adult

And he would have to hide no more

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_A few hours later_

"Congratulations, Naruto-kun" were the words that Iruka said to the blonde before giving him his headband with a small smile. The scarred Chunin couldn't help it, after all seeing his students graduate is one of his favorite moments.

With an almost invisible smile Naruto accepted the headband that will tell everyone that he was now a ninja of Konoha. Naruto tied his headband on his forehead and, after thanking Iruka; he left the classroom and started walking out of the Academy. The young blonde didn't find anyone on the halls since he was the last one to do the ninjutsu part of the test

The test itself had been laughable for the young blonde. The written test was nothing that Naruto didn't know about Konoha's story or the other subjects that appeared on it. After that it was time for the Kunai and Shuriken throwing part of the test. Like with the written part of it Naruto just did enough to pass, there was no reason to show off after all, although he could feel Sasuki's glare all the time. It was apparent that the young Uchiha didn't like the fact that Naruto was hiding his true strength but there was nothing she could do about it, but she was sure that Naruto was the strongest student here

He had to be to be able to defeat her so easily every time they sparred

After that it was time for the taijutsu part of the test, which simply consisted on doing your best against Iruka while other Chunin, Mizuki was his name Naruto believed, judges their efforts. Again Naruto had just done what he believed was necessary to pass. After that it was time for the last part of the test, which consisted on doing the three basics Academy jutsus. Naruto had done that easily after watching everyone else do so and leave, he was the last one after all, with Menma and Mito doing the test just before him

He could a swore that he had heard Mito wish him good luck after she had gotten her headband, but Naruto had quickly shook that idea out of his mind, after all he was sure he had heard wrong or something.

Like Mito of all people would wish him good luck.

So right now Naruto was simply walking out of the Academy, his face a mask of indifference. What Naruto wanted to do right not was to go and see his sensei to tell him the news. He was now a Shinobi, which meant he was considered an adult. Now he could live in his apartment like before and there was nothing anyone could do about it. After all Minato and Kushina had now no control over him. Yes, Naruto would visit his sensei soon, probably in the night though, to not raise any suspicion to anyone by just disappearing at the middle of the day.

Once Naruto had gotten out of the Academy he was greeted by the sights of multiple parents and family members congratulating their sons and daughters for finally becoming proud Shinobis and Kunoichis of the village. His attention went to the group consisted of four people with black hair and eyes, two mans and two women, one who was Naruto's friend, Sasuki.

Apparently even her elusive brother had gotten time to come and congratulate her little sister. He could easily see it, Sasuki's mother hugging her daughter while both her brother and father had smiles that, while small, perfectly showed the pride both hard towards Sasuki. In all of that Sasuki was beaming at them. It was the biggest smile Naruto had ever seen in Sasuki's face. After a few moments Sasuki's eyes went directly towards Naruto's own and the young blonde offered her a little smile wile touching his headband. Sasuki's response was another smile and a nod while touching the headband that was in her front too

None of the three elder Uchihas missed this interaction though, and Mikoto would make sure to bring this little fact in the family dinner today, after all seeing her daughter so flustered about a boy was something that Mikoto enjoyed. Fugaku just raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, it was not the place and he was sure his wife would bring it up later anyway

Itachi on the other hand gave Naruto an analytical look. Naruto caught his gaze and matched with his own and he could have swore that he saw Itachi's eyes flash red before the Uchiha redirected his focus. Naruto just narrowed his eyes a little bit but decided not to say anything. He would to remember to never look an Uchiha at the eyes though; who knows what might happen if he did.

Sasuki was an exception of course. Not only was she his friend but she didn't even have the Sharingan yet, so Naruto was sure that looking at her eyes would bring nothing but a flustered Sasuki

She tended to do that for some reason when he stared long enough.

Naruto's eyed caught the color of red before a little red-headed missile impacted with his body and tried to hug the stuff out of him. Naruto had to use all of his self-control to not push whoever was hugging him, but when he looked down the who became obvious; after all he ended face to face with the winning face of none other than Natsumi Uzumaki-Namikaze

"I knew you could do it, Onii-chan!" said Natsumi happily, who apparently had seen Naruto's headband and decided that a hug was in order. This just made Naruto blink twice before taking calming breaths. What was up with this girl? How could she act like there nothing bad between him and her family? Did she forgot or she just didn't care at all and thought that it was all water under the bridge? Naruto couldn't understand the little hamster at all, and the fact that she acted like they were the best of siblings annoy him to no end. Of course Naruto didn't want to make a scene, so he had to restrain himself from just pushing the girl out of him or even saying anything, after all he didn't trust his voice to come out of anything but a snarl.

Naruto did his best to move himself out of the hug, which was quite difficult since the little hamster had one strong grip con him. She even pouted cutely when Naruto finally manage to break the stupid hug. The young blonde though that he was finally free and he was more than ready to use the **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_** in order to leave without that much of fuss. Sadly for the young blonde the rest of the Uzumaki-Namikaze family had decided to take this chance to greet Naruto.

Well, Minato and Kushina did. Mito just followed with her brow furred in both confusion and mild annoyance and Menma had his normal glare and sneer every time he looked at his brother.

"Congratulation, sochi" spoke Kushina, who tried to move forwards and embrace her eldest child. Of course Naruto caught this and as soon as Kushina moved he gave a step back, his whole body tensed. Physical affection was not something that Naruto was use to, and coming from the woman that had neglected him since he was a kid he couldn't help but to feel a little threatened.

As soon as Kushina saw this she stopped in her tracks and she did her best to stop the tears that threatened to come out of her eyes. Her sochi had rejected her once again! And every time it did it just hurt even more. Even though she knew it was both her and Minato's fault she couldn't help it, she wanted her sochi as a part of the family!

Naruto gaze went from the now dejected red-head to his new leader, who had put his arm around his wife in comfort. Naruto knew that he would be in the presence of his former father in the future. It was not something he could escape, after all he was the Hokage and Naruto was now one of his Shinobi. Naruto wanted to make sure though, that Minato understood that whatever relationship they would ever have would be strictly professional

"Hokage-sama" greeted Naruto with a stiff nod towards the eldest blonde, his voice so cold and devoid of emotions that not even Menma could be stopped from flinching. Both Menma's and Mito's expression went to surprise quickly at hearing Naruto's tone. Meanwhile Natsumi looked plain confused at this, was there a problem between her Naruto-Onii-chan in her Tou-chan and Kaa-chan?

Minato wanted to say that he didn't have to call him Hokage and that calling him Tou-san was ok, but at seeing his son's cold eyes he held himself back. "Naruto-kun, we were going to celebrate yours, Mito's and Menma's graduation by going to eat some ramen and we were really hoping that you could come with us"

Naruto had to keep the scoff that threatened to escape his lips in his head. The simple idea of celebrating with this people was something that would have never crossed Naruto's head, and he couldn't find any reason to accept. He had already told them how their relationship, or lack of one, worked, they just refused to understand. Naruto could easily see the hope in both Minato and Kushina's eyes, and the young blonde was more than ready to crush that hope

"Excuse me Hokage-sama, but I have matter to attend to... you will have to go and celebrate without me, it's not like that stopped you before anyway" said Naruto, the last part going as low as a whisper, but both Minato and Kushina heard it loud and clear and of course it make both look crest-fallen. Naruto, wanting to put an end to this charade started walking past his former family, and he would have succeed in leaving them behind if it wasn't because of the hand that grabbed his arm tightly. Of course this made Naruto turn, which make him end up facer to face with an obviously distraught Mito.

Deep-blue eyes met violet for more than a few seconds in which neither Naruto or Mito said anything. The young red-head didn't know why she had stopped her Nii-san like this; she just had the feeling that if she let him go the breach between them would become even bigger. Mito hadn't missed the look that Naruto gave Sasuki, and she surprised herself when she actually found herself being jealous of the young Uchiha. Of course Mito knew that her Nii-san and Sasuki had some sort of friendship or something like that, but she thought that it was nothing big. But when she saw her Nii-san smiling at Sasuki, a true smile it made her jealous of her. She wanted her Nii-san to smile at her too! The fact that Natsumi went and hugged him so freely didn't help neither. She had wanted to hug him too just like her but she was still afraid of how Naruto might react to her. She was sure she wouldn't be able to handle rejection from her beloved Nii-san, and the tone he has used towards their Tou-sama definitely didn't help.

Mito had wanted to say something, _anything_ to her Nii-san before he left, but she just couldn't find the words. What could she say? I'm sorry? Please forgive me? I love you? She wanted to say these things and more but just a look at Naruto's cold eyes looking at her with nothing but indifference made her words die in her throat.

Naruto, having enough of this, simply yanked his arm free and keep walking out of the place. He was truly tired of having to deal with this family that seemed to not catch the hint. He now hoper more than before to not be put in the same team as either Menma or Mito. Kami only knows what he would do if either of them crossed the line. His self-control was good but not infallible.

He just hoped that his former parents would stop trying to fix their relationship. There was nothing to fix because it was already destroyed beyond measure. Naruto was sure of that and he was also sure that it was more probably that his sensei would crack up and roll in the ground in laughter before he accepted those people as his family

And if he had to beat the crap out of one of them to make his point cross then, well, he guessed that Menma would do just fine.

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Hours later at night_

Mizuki was one happy traitor. The future former Chunin of Konoha had manage to steal the famous scroll of secrets, which contained a number of forbidden techniques from the Hokage's themselves.

It was not easy to steal it though. No, Mizuki's original plan was to use that good for nothing Kyubi brat Naruto, but the stupid monster ended up actually passing his graduation test, making Mizuki's plan of manipulating him into steal the scroll for him by telling him that it was a remedial test useless.

Of course not everything was lost. It was more risky but he managed to steal the scroll by himself. Fooling the guards of the scroll was easy enough. He just had to kill one of them and then use **_Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique)_**__to fool the other guard, who of course he killed after.

So it was an exited Mizuki that was moving through the forest outside of Konoha, his destination none other that Iwagakure no Sato. His plan was to learn everything he could of the scroll and then use it as a bargain chip for Iwa to get an important spot there. Here in Konoha the improvement of his career was stunned but in Iwa he would become one of the top Shinobi there, he was sure of it

Mizuki knew that by this point someone had already noticed that the scroll had been stolen, so he had to move fast before the tracking teams got a lead on him.

It was because of both his excitement and his hurry that Mizuki never noticed the pair of black eyes that had seen him stole the scroll, or how the owner of those eyes had followed him in the shadows, waiting for his chance to strike

Which was now

The last thing Mizuki remembered was thinking of how powerful he would become, just before his whole world turned black

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_An hour later, with Naruto_

The young blonde didn't know what was going on; he just knew that, for some reason, almost every ninja available has been deployed to search for someone. Who? Naruto had no idea, but whoever he was had just gotten Naruto his golden chance to visit his sensei

The young blonde had spent the rest of that day meditating in his room in the home of his former family. Naruto had already decided to wait until night time to sneak out and go visit his sensei. He was also using this time to find peace in his mind, after all once again the fact that his former parents had tried to act like if they care just made him remember the words of his shadow when they fought.

Natsumi and Mito's action had both confused and annoy him too. He truly would have to find the moment to put a stop to Natsumi's "affection". She was not his sister and he was not her brother, so there was no reason for her to act that way. She couldn't just act like everything was ok between them, that's not how it worked.

On the other hand Mito's action just plain confuse him. Why did she grab him? She hadn't spoken a word to him in years and now she tried to what? Stop him from leaving? Why? There was also the look she gave him at that moment. Naruto didn't understood what was that glint she had on her eyes. Was it fear? Why would she be scared? It just didn't make sense in Naruto's opinion

And for the first time in his life Naruto was actually thankful of Menma. After all the bastard had not changed in anyway and had just given him his normal glare, something that in comparison with everything else was very welcome

So it was a confused Naruto that entered his apartment. The young dragon slayer had just used **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_** to appear outside and was now going directly towards the magical circle that would teleport him to the training room.

And like normal he pressed his hand in the circle and focused his magic there. The effect was instantaneous and Naruto disappeared in a black flash.

Not knowing that he would be entering in another test of Zeref.

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

"What is the meaning of this?" were the first words that Naruto said as soon as he reached the training room, his eyes widened in complete shock.

The reason for that reaction was the fact that, as soon as Naruto reached the training room he was greeted with the sight of one of the Chunin instructor of the academy, Mizuki was his name he remembered, chained, upside down and unconscious. Just a little bit to the right was his sensei, reading a black scroll that Naruto had never seen in his sensei's possession

As soon as he said anything Zeref's attention went from the scroll to his apprentice, his black emotionless eyes meeting confused deep-blue ones.

"Greetings, Naruto-kun" said Zeref, apparently not surprised at all by Naruto's reaction.

"Sensei, what's going on?" asked Naruto once again, his brows furrowed in complete confusion. He knew that if his sensei did something it was for a reason, but Naruto couldn't think of any reason to kidnap someone like Mizuki

"This person, Naruto-kun, tried to steal the scroll of secrets of Konoha" revealed Zeref, getting another shocked expression from Naruto. The young blonde knew about what the scroll was. It was one of the things that the Academy taught after all. It was a scroll that contained information of multiples jutsus that the former and present Hokage decided to store in there. It was truly one of Konoha's most valuable artifacts, so why would a Chunin like Mizuki steal it? The only reason that Naruto could think for something like that was...

"He's a traitor" murmured Naruto, getting a nod of agreement from the powerful dark mage.

"Indeed, Naruto-kun. Mizuki here stole the Scroll of Secrets and was more than ready to sell it to another village, probably in exchange for some sort of privilege in said village. He would have probably do this after studying the scroll himself. If this scroll had fallen into the wrong hands it would have probably started conflicts that, if my guess is right, would probably have been the starting face of the Fourth Shinobi World War"

Now this truly shocked Naruto. A war starting just because of the actions of a greedy man? Was it that easy to start those kinds of conflicts? Naruto had his doubts, but Zeref wasn't kidding. The powerful dark mage had the intentions of stealing the scroll himself. He wouldn't keep it though. No, he would just read it and, if he found anything useful, he would copy it for his apprentice, after all Zeref couldn't use any of the jutsu in the scroll thanks to his lack of chakra.

What Zeref found in the scroll had definitely surprised him a little bit. Some of the jutsus there seemed quite useful, like the different **_Mokuton (Wood Release)_** and **_Suiton (Water Release)_** that were documented in the scroll. Of course he knew that Naruto would not be able to use **_Mokuton (Wood Release)_** so he ignored that part, but he did copy the **_Suiton (Water Release)_** techniques. Besides that there was also information of both the **_Rasengan (Spiraling Ball)_** and **_Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)_**. Another noteworthy jutsu was the **_Shiki Fujin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal)_**. But without a doubt the most shocking jutsu that Zeref found there was the **_Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation)_**. Of course someone like Zeref who's magic centered around the live and death would be interested in something like a jutsu that brought the dead back to the living.

Zeref himself knew a technique similar to that, but there were difference. Zeref had never used it himself, since he had never nor the necessity or the requirement to use that form of the **_Black Arts (Black Arts)_**. While creating life was something that Zeref had done a lot, returning a person from the land of death was definitely something he had never done.

It didn't take a genius to know that so much powerful techniques in the wrong hands could create chaos, especially if someone went wild and created an army of undead soldiers. A part of Zeref wanted to destroy the original scroll, after all the last thing he wanted was someone playing with the **_Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation)_**, but he ended up not doing it, thinking that if the scroll wasn't returned it might bring unnecessary action from the Hokage's part. So after copying everything that Zeref though would be useful in different scrolls he returned the scroll to where it was before it was stolen by Mizuki. It was quite easy for the dark lord to go around in places that were heavily guarded, after all he could easily avoid detection and even seals that worked detecting intruders didn't work in him, after all those seals worked by detecting Chakra signatures, and Zeref had no chakra in his body

He could even enter the Hokage's house easily enough.

His reason for bringing Mizuki here though, were completely different. He didn't know how Naruto would react to what he was going to have to do, but this was something that Zeref knew Naruto had to get out of the way fast. It wouldn't do for him to hesitate in a mission or a fight just because he had doubts of fear. No, Naruto was his apprentice and Zeref would make sure Naruto was more than ready for when he faced the worst

"The scroll has already been returned" started Zeref, his eyes looking directly at Naruto's "but now it's time to deal with the man that was more than ready to seal the place he vowed to protect just because of his greed" As soon as Zeref finished the chains that maintained Mizuki floating disappeared, and the silver haired Chunin felt to the ground with a thud. He didn't wake up though

"What are you going to do with him?" asked Naruto, wanting to know how his sensei would proceed from here

"Me? I'm doing nothing Naruto-kun... This man right here is nothing but scum. Someone that was ready to sell his loyalties just for power and prestige. Someone that was ready to put this whole village in danger just because of his greed. The is only one that this kind of people deserve Naruto-kun... that is, Death"

"You want me to kill him?!" questioned Naruto, his voice rising a little bit while his eyes were looking at his sensei incuriously. Of course Naruto had never killed before, he knew he was going to have to do it sooner or later, he was a ninja after all, but this situation was definitely coughing him off guard.

"It's just like I told you Naruto-kun. As a Shinobi of Konoha you have now duties. Protecting the village is one of them. Disposing of treats to the village itself is another one. This man right here has no friends, family or anyone that would miss him. You already know it Naruto-kun, you _will_ kill sooner or later, and the first kill is always the hardest one. It's better if you do it now than in the middle of a fight in which you could easily froze or hesitate at any moment" replied Zeref, his sole focus on his apprentice

Meanwhile Naruto knew that what his sensei what saying was true. Killing for the first time was definitely not easy, and doing it in the middle of the battlefield was definitely not recommended. But still Naruto could not stop the doubt that was appearing on his head. Could he easily kill someone in cold blood like this? The man wasn't even awake for Kami's sake! Although Naruto didn't know if that made it any easier or harder.

Zeref noted his apprentice doubts, and he knew that he had to squash them fast, after all this was necessary. It might be hard but it was better in a controlled environment like this that in a mission "Naruto-kun, this man killed two other ninjas of Konoha just to get the scroll, and I'm sure he would have killed anyone that stood on his path. He deserves neither mercy nor forgiveness. People like him never learn Naruto-kun, and they are simply better off dead" spoke Zeref, getting a little nod from Naruto, whose attention went from his sensei to the passed out form of the Chunin.

His personal opinion of Mizuki was simple. He disliked him. He knew that Mizuki was one of those few people that believed he was the Kyubi Kami knows why. That combined with what Zeref just said make Naruto care little for the Chunin, but it was still his first kill. Trepidation was to be expected. So it was with slow steps that Naruto approached the sleeping form of Mizuki, his right hand grabbing a Kunai from his pouch.

When Naruto finally reached the unconscious Chunin he did his best to hide his feeling with a stony face, but Zeref could easily see them. After taking a few deep breaths Naruto decided to get this over with as fast as he could, so it was with a firm hold on his Kunai that Naruto stabbed the unconscious Chunin right where his heart was, he then twisted the knife just to make sure before plunging it out and throwing the bloody weapon to the side, his hand now trembling and his eyes refusing to see the cadaver of the man that became his first kill. Naruto didn't know how Zeref had done it, but Mizuki didn't make any sound when Naruto stabbed him, and for that he was glad, after all it might have made things harder.

Naruto now felt sick. He didn't know how people felt after killing, but he sure wasn't liking the feeling right now. What gave him the right to take a life like this? Wasn't it wrong? Even if his sensei told him that it was necessary he still felt that he had become someone bad. A murderer. A killer. A monster.

Naruto was taken out of his thoughts when his sensei placed his hand on his shoulder, and when Naruto looked into his eyes he saw something he didn't expect.

Understatement and acceptance

"I understand, Naruto-kun" started Zeref, his voice; while still emotionless it had a tingle of something. Sadness, Naruto believed "In an ideal world taking the live of another human being would be preposterous. But this world is far from that. Don't fool yourself Naruto-kun; you will meet people whose value of other's life is so little that they enjoy taking it from them. You will meet people that will try and harm not only you but those that you care about. You will simply meet people that are a danger to everybody else. I'm not telling you to learn to like it Naruto-kun, since that is something you should never do, but you must understand that in this world sometimes is killing or be killed. It doesn't make you a monster or something evil. I know you Naruto-kun; I know that you would never take another one's life without being forced to do it. So stop thinking so much trash and pull yourself together"

Of course Zeref knew what Naruto was feeling. He himself had felt the same the first time he took a life with his magic. It was only later that he stopped having problems killing people, and Zeref knew that was one of the things that turned him into the monster that he was, his complete lack of care about others. He killed anyone that stood on his path and sometimes he even enjoyed. But now... now he couldn't stop the shame and regret that appeared on his heart every time he thought of his actions

People were right at that time. He was a monster. Naruto wasn't, not by a long shot

Naruto found himself nodding unconsciously to his sensei words, accepting them as a life-line. He was sure he would never go on a killing spree or something like that, and while he knew he would probably never get completely use to the idea of taking a life that easily Naruto knew that if it was something he had to do in order to protect what was important for him (for some reason that the blonde couldn't understands, Sasuki appeared first on his mind when he though that), he would do it without hesitation.

The young blonde ended up sitting in the ground, doing his best to clean the blood that he just noticed was in his hands, clothes and even face with a tissue that Zeref gave him

Kami knows were he was keeping that hidden

It was after cleaning his hands that Naruto caught a black scroll that his sensei had just threw at him. With a little of surprise and curiosity in his head Naruto opened the scroll just as Zeref spoke

"That's what you are going to learn before the week is over"

The young blonde could not stop muttering the name of the jutsu that was on the scroll, and when he read the description his eyes actually widened a lot

"**_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)"_**

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_The next day, in the Hokage's office_

"This won't end well, Namikaze"

"We already discussed this, Orochimaru. I'm not going to change this team no matter what you say"

"Forcing them together like this will only bring disaster Namikaze! I give you a week before Naruto-kun kills one of his teammates just because they did something stupid. The only that's safe there is the Uchiha and that's barely"

This was the discussion that Minato Namikaze, Hokage of Konoha, and Orochimaru, one of the **_Sannins (Three Legendary Ninjas)_** have been having every since they started to form the different teams of the new groups of graduated.

Orochimaru, being the one in charge of keeping an eye of the Academy to better understand the future Shinobi and Kunoichi of the village besides his normal job as the head of the T&I department, would also discuss with the Hokage about the teams that they will form.

Of course the final call rested in the Hokage's shoulder, but Minato always listened to Orochimaru's recommendation, after all they have probed to be quite valuable in the past

But this was one team that will stay as it is

Said team was of course former by two Jounin leaders and four new Genins. So far they had already decided in one of the Jounin, one Kakashi Hakate. Orochimaru really had no problem with that, in fact he had no problem with the team itself. It was only one member of the team that he had a problem with

Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze

In Orochimaru's opinion putting the boy with his brother and sister, Menma and Mito, in the same team could only end in disaster. He didn't have to be a genius to know that Naruto's relationship with his family was strained to say at least. His visit to the house a few months back and Anko's report about the boy's behavior just confirmed his suspicion. So how in Kami's name did Minato believed that putting them in the same team would be a good idea?

Orochimaru had planned something today. He had asked to take the boy as an apprentice. The snake summoner knew that there was something definitely wrong with that kid. The other might not have noticed it, but Orochimaru could feel how Naruto's presence itself was becoming more and more like _His_. And Orochimaru would be dammed in he let someone like that go unsupervised. In fact the snake summoner had already planned to make the boy die in a _tragic accident_ if he proved to be too much like that _monster_

Orochimaru was too afraid to even think of _His_ name, let alone said it out loud.

Of course that it might be a little difficult to get Minato to accept his proposal, but damn it he didn't know he was going to be so thick-headed about this! For what Orochimaru could read between lines, Minato's reason for this team was to fix the bridges between his family and Naruto by making him spend time with his siblings

Orochimaru thought that was foolish beyond believe

A team of Genin couldn't work together if they let personal feelings affect their teamwork, and Orochimaru didn't know if Naruto would even be able of work together with the siblings he doesn't care about. He guessed that Naruto might work well enough with the Uchiha girl, but that still let a very dysfunctional team

And a dysfunctional team was a dead team

"Stop insinuating that my son would harm, let alone kill his flesh and blood! He's not the monster you make him out to be, Orochimaru, and if I heard one more word about it then I'll make you leave and continue this by myself" argued back Minato, his eyes narrowed and his voice with steel that told Orochimaru that he would not change his mind.

Of course this make Orochimaru release an exasperated sigh. Obviously there was nothing he say to change the Hokage's mind, so he will have to go with Plan B. He could not let this boy go unsupervised, specially out of the village, so he decided that, if he could not keep an eye on the boy himself, then he would send someone that Orochimaru knew was more loyal to him that to everybody else

"I understand" said Orochimaru, his voice calm, hiding the frustration that he was feeling "I still believe that is a bad idea, but you obviously are not going to change it. I can only hope that this won't end as bad as I think it will"

The blonde Hokage nodded at this, thinking that Orochimaru was just being overly paranoid. Of course Minato knew that the relationship between Naruto and his family was still bad. The last month has just proved not only that but that Naruto didn't feel any love towards his siblings either, and Minato blamed himself for that. If he had been a better father then Naruto wouldn't be like that, or so he thought.

Putting Naruto with Menma and Mito was a plan of both the Hokage and his wife in order to start fixing their relationship with their son. They hoped that, by making Naruto spend time with his siblings he would start opening up to them, which, they hoped, would help them do the same with their son.

It was already bad that Naruto had apparently moved out of the house, or at least that what it seemed like since he hadn't return home after the test, and then they found a note on his room just saying that he wouldn't live here anymore, and there was nothing Minato nor Kushina could do about it. He was now a legal adult, so, as parents, Minato and Kushina had little to no power over Naruto

And forcing him to stay at their house by ordering him as a Hokage would probably just do more harm than good.

Of course this plan was probably going to fail, but Minato was a desperate father. He would try anything to earn his son's forgiveness, and he was sure Kushina would do the same

Another thing on Minato's head was the situation with the scroll of secrets. The valuable artifact of Konoha was stolen just yesterday by, according to the information they got, a Chunin known as Mizuki. Teams were sent to find the traitor before he got out the border, but no one could find him. That ended up being just one of the mysteries that happened, after all that same day the scroll was returned to the Hokage's house, by a complete black dog no less. The complete black animal simply disappeared after leaving the scroll in the garden, like it was never there. His wife had been the one that had seen it all.

This of course brought a lot of questions. Questions that no one could answer. The scroll was real, it was in perfect condition and Mizuki was still missing. There was still some teams looking for him but Minato had no choice but to close se case for lack of information.

He didn't know how or why it happened, but he was just glad the scroll was back and safe. Kami known's what could have happened if it ended up in a place like Iwa.

Nothing good he presumed.

"We still need a second sensei for the team" said Minato, going over the different profiles and records of the Jounin that had volunteered to be Jounin leaders. Of course Kakashi has been the first choice for one of the senseis of Team 7, after all Minato wouldn't trust anyone else with the training and leadership of a team which had three of his kids. They still needed another one though, and Minato didn't know who would be good for the team

"I have a suggestion for that" informed Orochimaru, hiding the smirk that threatened to form in his lips. If he couldn't have the boy as his apprentice to keep an eye on him then his little apprentice would have to do the job

Minato eyed the folder that Orochimaru picked, his eyes scanning the content of it with a critical eye "Really, Orochimaru? Her? Do you think I'm dumb or something? Don't think I don't know how loyal she is to you. So because I denied your solicitude of apprenticeship you decided to spy on him and his team? What game are you trying to play, Orochimaru" the last bit was said with an edge on his voice, but if Orochimaru felt threatened by it then he definitely didn't show it

"I don't know what you're talking about, Hokage-sama. Anko-chan is more than appropriate for the team. No only was she an ANBU but she was one of the best. There's also the fact that she and Naruto-kun are... acquaintance" Minato's eyes widened for a moment at hearing this. He definitely didn't know that! "And I'm also hoping that Anko's personality might make Naruto-kun open up to her. We need information; after all we still don't know who trained Naruto-kun, do we?" Orochimaru's voice was neutral during his explanation, and Minato had to accept his point, even if he didn't like

Of course Minato still knew that Orochimaru was going to use Anko to get information of her son, but still what Orochimaru said was true. Minato knew that his son didn't have a lot of friends, and that his loyalty to the village was, for some reason that Minato hasn't found out, bad to say at least. Maybe Anko could make Naruto open up? He was going to ask Kakashi to do the same, but having more than one person doing it might help things a little bit. He of course knew exactly how... flamboyant Anko Mitarashi could be, but that might be what Naruto needed at this point.

He wouldn't let Orochimaru use any information Anko will get to harm his son though. No, if he even got a feeling that Orochimaru was planning something harmful to Naruto, or any of his children for that matter, he would kill the S-rank Nin faster that he could mutter 'Kusanagi'

"I guess you do have a point, Orochimaru" started Minato, a cold glare directed towards his fellow S-rank Nin "But if I find out you're trying to do anything with my son, you will die. No questions asked. Understood?"

"Crystal, Hokage-sama" Orochimaru met Minato's glare with one of his own. He wouldn't be intimidated by someone as young as him. Sure, Minato might be stronger than him, but Orochimaru wouldn't let that go to his head. He was sure that, under the right circumstances, he could take Minato on.

He just hoped the situation with Naruto didn't end up in that.

Too risky for his life

"We still have more teams to assemble" Orochimaru told Minato after a few seconds of nothing but glares, getting a stiff node from the blue-eyed Hokage. The man picked up more of the files of both the graduated Genins and the Jounin, scanning over them with a critical eye

"We could make specialized teams here, but..." Minato said with a sigh, thinking of how past teams were formed and, while they worked well, Minato wanted them to be able to face any mission that came by "We need to change things up a little bit. Specialized teams are ok, but we can do better than that. The village needs teams that can handle every situation. Balanced teams that won't fall apart just because the mission is not the one they're normally comfortable with"

At this Orochimaru couldn't help but to smirk. Finally something that he could agree off. Minato was right. Making more all-around teams will help their survival. Besides specialized teams depended too much in the teamwork with _only_ their team and most teams were separated once one or two of them reached Chunin status.

"In that case, I have a few suggestions"

And so, they went on

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_A week later, in the Academy_

Just like they were told a week ago, all of the graduated Genin came to the academy, waiting for the announce of in which teams they will be with for the starts of their ninja carrier

Just like always Naruto sat in one of the farest desk, a scroll on his hand and Sasuki on his right with a completely bored face. The young Uchiha had already tried to start a conversation with her blonde friend, but he found herself talking to a wall, after all he was so immersed in that fricking scroll that the best answer she got was a "hmmm" from his part

She almost succumbed to the urge of grabbing the scroll and burn it with a good **_Katon (Fire Release)_** technique, after all the damn thing was stealing the attention of her friend, and she didn't like it!

It wasn't like she wanted the attention for herself though

Or so she kept repeating in her head.

Meanwhile, and oblivious to Sasuki's 'inner turmoil' Naruto was just reading another one of the scrolls that Zeref had gotten for him Kami knows where. He had already mastered the first one, the **_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)_**, and he was now reading about a complementary technique for that jutsu, the **_Bunshin Daibakuha (Clone Great Explosion)_**

Of course, while Naruto had a quantity of chakra bigger than normal, he could not go around creating armies of clones. They just needed way too much chakra for Naruto to be comfortable with. There was also the fact that Naruto's magic depended on his chakra to replenish itself, so it was better for Naruto to not expend all of his chakra just making a few clones.

The other function the **_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)_** was that Naruto would get all the information the clone got before disappearing. Of course the possibilities of using them for training appeared on Naruto's head as soon ad he read it, but his sensei told him about the different cons to this. The first one was that, for some reason that neither Naruto nor Zeref understood, the clones would disappear as soon as they tried to use magic. Zeref had gotten a few theories about the why, but nothing conclusive, so use them for magical training was simply out of the question. Reading and other forms of training, such as chakra control, ended up being the only things his clones could train, but even so Zeref just let Naruto make one or two clones, and Naruto ended up being ok with that, after all the backslash of getting the information from a clone was big. Naruto ended up having a head splitting headache

Thank Kami that not every clone that was destroyed returned his information to his head. No, only clones that puffed out of existence by themselves, or by Naruto's intent, would send their information back to the original. If a clone disappeared because it was destroyed in, for example, a fight then Naruto would not get any info out of him, just the knowing that one of his clones had disappeared.

Still, it was a damn useful technique and Naruto was thankful of his sensei for giving him the information about it.

Naruto's attention was taken out of the scroll when Sasuki shook his shoulder and pointed to the form of their new ex-Academy instructor, Iruka Umino, who had just entered the classroom.

Just as she did this Naruto was also managed to see how Sasuki's calm expression became a little nervous. At least that what he saw in her eyes, and the way she was biting her lower lip also indicated that she was nervous about something

And Naruto had an idea about what

"Don't worry" said Naruto, making Sasuki look straight at him "I'm sure we will end up in the same team" of course Naruto had no way of knowing this, but he could only hope "And even if we don't, it's not like we'll stop being friends or anything... right?" the last part was said as a question, which got Sasuki to release calming sigh before looking at her blonde friend with a small smile

"Of course... and thanks"

"Just like I told you before, that's what friends are for" and with that both Naruto and Sasuki felt into a comfortable silence, both looking directly at where Iruka was going to start calling the different teams

Naruto had little to no interest in the first six teams since they were made of nothing but civilian kids that, if being honest, Naruto had never pay attention too, It wasn't until Iruka got to team 7 that Naruto's attention was picked up, after all the only ones left to get a team were people that had gotten Naruto's attention the past three years

"Team 7 will be Sasuki Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze and Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze, their Jounin senseis will be Kakashi Hatake and Anko Mitarashi. Team 8 will be..." whatever Iruka was going to say never reached Naruto ears. Why? Because the blonde mage was now trembling in barely contained rage!

How dare that sorry excuse of a father play with him like this! Naruto was no fool, he knew that the teams were decided by the Hokage, they had to, which means that he purposely put him with his blood-relatives in the same team. Why? Why couldn't they understand that he wanted nothing to do with them? That he wanted nothing to with that cursed family beyond what was require? He hoped that now he was a Shinobi he would have to just interact with Minato as he was the Hokage, and maybe Mito or Menma if he was forced to work with them on a mission, but being with them in the same Genin team? What was next? Kushina as their sensei?

He never felt more glad of hearing Anko's name than that day

Then there was the fact that their other sensei was Kakashi, someone that Naruto was more than sure would try and get as much information as he could from him to inform Minato as soon as he revealed that he could do more that he showed in the Academy.

He was sure that if it wasn't for Sasuki he would believe that is was his nightmare team. His former siblings as teammates, Minato's little dog as one of his sensei and a woman that licked to get on his nerves as much as she could as the other one

Oh the joy!

Talking about the young Uchiha, said girl couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her face as soon as her name and the name of her cru-friend! As soon as the name of her friend and her own were said in the same team

Damn it! The teasing that she had gotten al week from her mother had really messed her head. Her, liking the blonde baka as more than friends? Preposterous!

Ahh, teenage denial

That smile though, turned into a shocked and worried expression as soon as she turned to face the blonde, after all the normal calmed and collected Naruto was now trembling while releasing calming breaths with his eyes close, almost like he was doing his best to stop himself from storming at someone

Oh, how right she was

Sasuki was not the only one looking at Naruto though. As soon as the team was mentioned Mito too turned and looked up from her seat at the front of the classroom, and of course what she got really startled her. First she saw her Nii-san trying to, what she guessed was, calm himself before he opened his eyes and gave her one of the iciest stares she had ever received. So much that it actually sent shiver down her spine. Those eyes, in Mito's opinion, were wrong! She could easily remember how those eyes use to look at her with nothing but happiness and love. She loved those times. They were the most precious memories that she had, but now, looking at how cold and uncaring her dear Nii-san's eyes looked it made her heart twist in pain. He shouldn't be looking at her like that! She couldn't let this to go on anymore. No, she had to fix it, fast

She had already spent seven years without her brother's love, and she didn't think she could last another day without it

Specially if that love was changed with nothing but cold indifference

Naruto's cold eyes went from her to someone else, and as Mito followed his stare she found herself at the form of her other brother, Menma, who for some reason was smashing his head against the desk

Hard

What had happened was that, as soon as Menma heard that he was at the same team as his "loser brother" as he kept calling Naruto in his head, he groaned in annoyance just before started pounding his head against the desk, muttering about useless brothers and injustices of life

Yes, definitely not the best team.

Oh well, they will have to learn to cooperate

Or die

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_An hour later_

"Where the hell are they?!" once again the annoyed and impatience form of Sasuki Uchiha yelled at no one while pacing around the classroom, her fury obvious in her face

"Would you chill out, Uchiha? It's not like yelling is going to make time move faster" grunted a rather annoyed Menma too. Not only annoyed by the fact that their senseis were not here, something that was to be expected expect from someone like Kakashi-nii, but also from Sasuki's rant about how irresponsible it was for a Jounin of all things to be late

Damn the girl really had a good set of lungs

"Bite me, Namikaze!" growled Sasuki with a glare, more than ready to release the angriness that she had on the stupid brother of her friend

"You first, Uchiha!" now Menma was the one angry

"Could the two of you stop fighting each other? You're not helping at all. The last thing we need is you two shouting things right now" Meanwhile Mito tried to be the mediator of the two. Her words only got both Sasuki and Menma to look the other way with a huff and Sasuki deiced to just sat in silence besides her blonde friend, who by the way had his eyes close and was apparently doing his best to block the outer world

Sadly he was failing because, just like Menma said, Sasuki had a really good pair of lungs

After that the classroom ended up in a tense silence that no one was willing to break. Menma just stared at the ceiling with an annoyed expression on his face, knowing that this was something to be expected from Kakashi-nii. Meanwhile Mito too was in nervous silence. The young redhead was giving her Nii-san some nervous glances very once in a while, her fear for rejection making her unable to go and talk to her

She could still remember the cold glance she received from her dear Nii-san and it broke her heart like it was made from glass

On the other hand Sasuki was still fuming in her seat. Every other team had been picked up by their senseis just after all the teams were called out, but hers had apparently gone missing or something. At this point she was more than mad, no one should make her wait like this for one hour, no one!

Well, maybe Naruto, but that was just because he was cute...

...wait, what?

Dammit, Kaa-sama!

Meanwhile Naruto was using the time to meditate. It truly helped him relax, and considering the situation he pretty much need it. If he had opened his eyes he would have seen how his raven-haired friend got a blush on her entire face because of her thoughts, and she would have said just one word that would have made it worse

Cute

It was after another half an hour that the door of the classroom finale slid open, showing a man with gravity defying silver hair, a Konoha headband covering his left eye and wearing the normal Konoha uniform.

"My first impression of this team is that... you're boring" were the first words the silver haired man said while entering, getting two sweat drops, one raiser eyebrow and a twitching one

"Kakashi-nii, you're late... I thought Kaa-san told you that if you kept doing that she was going to beat the lateness out of you" sweat dropped Menma, getting a nervous chuckle from the now revealed Kakashi. Of course the silver-haired Jounin knew what Menma was talking about. His sensei's wife, Kushina-nee, had threatened him that if he was late to meet his team she would, to put it plainly, beat the crap out of him, and for a moment Kakashi had whimpered and nodded vigorously towards her

But dammit he had a reputation to maintain! Besides he was still early than usual, so it was a win-win situation

He hoped Kushina-nee would see things like him though

Probably not

"Don't worry, Menma-kun. I'm sure Kushina-nee won't do that... I hope" that last part was said as nothing but a whisper.

Meanwhile Sasuki's eye-twitch had become even worse. She even had a tick mark on her forehead. If there was something Sasuki didn't like was lazy people, and for what that idiot Menma just said this guy sounded like he liked to be late

That wouldn't do at all

Before Sasuki could start shouting and snarling to the silver-haired Jounin Naruto clamped his hand over her mouth, making her screams of protest sound muffled, and forced her to sit down. He was just beside her and he knew more yelling wouldn't help anyone

Apparently Kakashi saw this since he sent an eye-smile towards Naruto, although if the blonde noticed no one knew. "Well, meet me at the rooftop right now. There are some thing we need to talk first" and with that Kakashi disappeared in a leaf **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_**, making both Mito and Menma look at the place he was before disappearing with curious faces before they shrugged and start walking out of the classroom

Mito turned around before leaving though, to make sure that her Nii-san and Sasuki was following them but when she did she found no one there.

Where the hell were they?

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile, on the roof_

Kakashi didn't have enough time to take out his copy of his favorite book, Icha-Icha, since as soon as he got in the rooftop, another person; two in fact, got there too in another **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_**

Said couple were none other than Naruto and Sasuki, one of them calm as ever and the other one obviously still pissed of about something. Kakashi couldn't avoid being surprised at seeing his sensei's eldest son, even if it was just by a few minutes.

Kakashi had many regrets on his life. The death of his teammates being one. Not spending time with Naruto had become another one. His sensei had explained the situation to him. About how Naruto felt resentment towards his family because he never felt like a part of it. He had also asked Kakashi to keep an eye on him and to try and connect to him like he had connected to Menma years ago. That of course was something that Kakashi would love, after all his sensei had told him a long time ago that he was practically part of the family, and as such he would help his sensei's family as much as he could

He had to admit, he was surprised that a freshly new Genin could use the **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)._** He knew that was something that the Academy didn't teach, which meant that Naruto had learned somewhere else. From who though? Or maybe he just found a scroll in the Library or something.

He would have to ask

And he would have asked if it wasn't because, during the time he spent in his thoughts, both Menma and Mito had gotten to the rooftop, obviously by using the stairs. Both of tem were surprised at seeing Naruto and Sasuki here, Sasuki with her arms crossed over her chest and silently fuming while Naruto had a hand of her shoulder, apparently trying to calm her down a little bit. This of course got two suspicious glances from Menma and Mito, although the reason for them were quite different

"Aren't we missing someone?" asked Mito after she got in place to Naruto's left, with Sasuki being at his right and Menma at Mito's left. She was right, Naruto thought, where was Anko? In fact, wasn't it too much of a coincidence that Anko of all people became a sensei of his team? Something wasn't right here. Naruto didn't believe in coincidences, which meant that in his opinion this was pretty much done at purpose. But why, between all the Jounin of the village, put the one that had been doing her best to get on his nerves for two months already as his sensei?

Naruto would have continue thinking if it wasn't because of the soft feeling that pressed on his back, coupled by two arms that hugged him from behind followed by a warm whisper in his hear that sent shivers down in his spine

"Did you miss me, Naru-kun?" now this was one of the reasons that Naruto was so on edge with Anko. No matter what he did the damn woman always managed to get on his guard just like she was going right now. It was a blow to his skills how he never managed to detect her until it was too late

Like right now

"Anko-san, what have I told you about doing stuff like this" Naruto tried his best to keep his voice calm and neutral, kind of hard considered that he still was a teenage boy, being hugged by an older hot woman.

Anko pouted at hearing this before hugging Naruto even harder, squashing her breast to his back "And what did I tell you about calling me like that, Naru-kun? If you want me to stop you have to call me 'Anko-chan'. C'mon Naru-kun, I know you can do it, it's easy. An-ko-chan!" Said Anko, the last part in low whisper that sent another shiver to the young blonde.

He wasn't the only one affected though. Both Menma and Kakashi were looking at the scene in front of them with confusion obvious in their face. Since when did this two know each other? And since when were they so close? Kakashi knew Anko liked to flirt a lot, but she never did it with someone so young, so what the hell was she doing now?

Meanwhile Mito was showing a calm exterior, but on the inside she was fuming in barely restrained rage, her fists clenched tightly. What was this, this... hussy, trying to do with her Nii-san?! Why was she hugging him like that? And how could her Nii-san act so calmly about it?! He should shake her off at once!

Sadly Mito was not the only one that felt like that, but she was the only one with restraint

Sasuki? Not so much

"What do you think you're doing?! Get off him right now!" growled Sasuki, an accusing finger pointed straight at Anko. Who the hell was this woman and why was she acting so comfy with Naruto?!

"But I don't wanna" whined Anko towards Sasuki, before her pout became a devilish grin "Or maybe you would like to take my place here?" she reinforced that statement by hugging Naruto even more tightly, making Sasuki blush quite red. Wetter it was because of her angry or being embarrassed by what Anko said, no one knew.

This was one of the reasons that Naruto feared the day both Sasuki and Anko would met. For what he knew Anko liked to get on people's nerves and Sasuki was way to happy to rile up

Definitely an explosive pair

"Ne ne, Anko-san, please stop teasing the little Genins, we kind of need to start with presentation anyway" told Kakashi to Anko, trying his best to defuse the current situation. He knew that working with Anko of all people was going to be a hassle, but it was way too early for her to be causing mischief to the Genins

They haven't even made their test yet!

Anko fake-pouted once again before releasing Naruto. After that the four Genin found them standing in front of both Kakashi and Anko. Naruto with his normal neutral expression, Menma with an air of excitement and curiosity, Mito giving suspicious glances towards Anko and Sasuki just glaring at her

"Well I believe we should start by introducing ourselves, shouldn't we? So why don't you guy tell me a little about yourselves, like your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, etc" said Kakashi, getting a raised hand from Mito "Why don't you show us first, Kakashi-sensei" said the young red-head respectfully, getting a nod from both Sasuki and Menma and a chuckle from the one-eyed Jounin

"Alright sure. Well lets see, my name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are none of your concern and neither are my dislikes, I don't have many hobbies and I really haven't thought about my dreams that much"

'He only told us his name' deadpanned the four Genin, who were now seated on the ground

"Really, Hatake? it was your idea, you could at least put some effort in it" said Anko before coughing, a wide grin appearing on her face while she crossed her arms over her chest "I'm the awesome Anko Mitarashi! My likes are snakes, dango, the Forest of Death and a good challenge; my dislikes are anyone that insults my dango, ignorant fools, perverts and weaklings. My hobbies are torturing idiots, experiment with the poison of snakes and mess with certain blonde gaki's poker face" at this she sent a knowing smile to Naruto, who just blinked at her "and my dream is to surpass my sensei! Finished Anko while nodding with a grin on her face and her eyes close, not noticing how the expression of some of the people present became incredulous at some of the things she said

An exited Menma was next, a grin on his face full of confidence "The name is Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze. My likes are ramen, pranks, training; learn new jutsus and my family. What I don't like is the time it takes to propagate ramen, weak people, Iwa and... Certain someone" neither Anko nor Kakashi missed the look he gave Naruto at that moment "my hobbies are making ramen, training and pranks, and my dream is to one day become the Hokage!"

'Not surprise there' thought almost everyone there, after all the dream part was quite obvious for anyone that ever talked to Menma.

"My name is Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze" started Mito, a small smile on her face "my likes are my family, training, and my friends and...ramen" that last part was said barely as a whisper, after all Mito was a little embraced about her family obsession with the food " my dislikes are bullies, arrogant people, sexists, perverts and certain fox. My hobbies are reading, gardening, and Kenjutsu, and my dream is... more a life-goal. I just want to be able to protect those that I care about" 'And fix my relationship with Nii-san' revealed Mito, the last part just in her head, getting some raised eye-brows at the fox part and a proud eye-smile from Kakashi at her dream

"My name is Sasuki Uchiha" Sasuki still had a light scowl framing her face and her voice had some edge to it "What I like is training, my family, my clan, tomatoes and certain someone" now that actually got Sasuki's cheek to go a little pink. Why did she even say that? And Anko's devilish grin was not helping at all "My dislikes are weak people, lazy people" at this she glared at Kakashi, who just eye-smiled at her "people that break their word, perverts and those that make fun of the Uchiha clan. My dream is to surpass three different persons" By those people Sasuki was talking about her Onii-sama Itachi Uchiha, Madara Uchiha, and Naruto himself, not that anyone knew that though

It finally became Naruto's turn. He had been thinking about exactly what to say since the start, after all he was sure that saying that his likes were magic, dragons, darkness and Zeref was not something he should ever say.

"My name is Naruto" said Naruto in his normal calm voice, not even bothering in saying his last name, which made a couple of the people present frown a little bit "My likes are books, training and the supernatural" it was low, but Naruto clearly heard Menma's scoff. Not like he cared though. "My dislikes are... too many to count them all" this was one thing that Naruto really didn't want to reveal "My hobbies are reading and training and my dream is..." Now Naruto had never thought if any dream before. Motivation for becoming strong? Sure, but he didn't felt like that was a dream. His thoughts went to Sasuki. Protect his friends? Of course he would do that, but that's something almost everyone would do, so for him it wasn't a dream. Then his thoughts went to his father-figure, the man that had given him a chance when no one else did. The person that cared and believed in him when no one else would, and just like that the words came out of his mouth basically in instinct "...to make someone important to me proud"

Of course this got some raised eye-brow and curious expressions from almost everybody. Kakashi, thinking that the situation between Naruto in his family wasn't that bad (mostly because Minato's explanation was vanilla at best) thought that Naruto was talking about his father or mother, while Anko knew best. But who? That was something Anko had to find out.

"Well now that everyone knows each other I guess is time we tell you about your real test" said Kakashi, making the four Genin blink at him before Mito raised her hand and asked

"What do you mean by real test, Kakashi-nii?"

"You wouldn't believe you kids are already Genin, will you?" it was Anko the one that took the explanation from there, looking at the younger ones with barely hidden amusement "No, the Academy graduation test was just to see who had the potential to become Genins of Konoha. The real test starts tomorrow and we will be the ones to supervise it"

This of course got a wide-eyed expression from Sasuki, Mito and Menma, while Naruto didn't look affected at all. His sensei had already told him how this worked, so this wasn't news at all, at least not for him

"Wait and what happens if we fail?" asked Menma

"Simply. You go back to the Academy!" announced Anko, getting more shocked expressions from the Genins with Naruto being the exception.

"Don't worry; I'm sure you will do just fine. Anyway the test will be in the Training Ground 7, at 7 AM, so make sure you get there early" and with that both Kakashi and Anko go prepared to leave using **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_**, but just before that the silver-haired Jounin left him some more words "Oh, and make sure to not eat breakfast before. You might puke if you do" and with that both left, Anko winking in Naruto's direction and said boy doing his best to pretend he didn't see it.

As soon as they left Naruto leaned on Sasuki and whispered something in her hear that no one else could hear, getting a surprised expression from her before she gave an understanding nod.

And with that Naruto left in another **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_**, getting a shocked expression from Menma and a sad sigh from Mito. She wanted to talk to her Nii-san so much, but she never got the chance. She wanted to invite him to eat with her to celebrate that they were on the same team but once again she lost her opportunity to speak with him

She was so focused on finding a way to speak with him alone that she didn't notice when Sasuki left

Mito had to find a way to connect with her Nii-san again! They were now in the same team and she was not going to miss the chance to recover the time lost just because she followed the stupid Kyubi's advice!

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Next day, around 9 AM_

"Well I guess is time for the test" said Kakashi to the group of four Genin with Anko on his right. The silver-haired man had to admit that his little plan to make the test itself harder didn't work out in the end

For starters all of them ate before coming, apparently ignoring his warning yesterday, and they also got here two hours late like him and Anko. The snake woman, as some people called her, didn't like the whole 'getting late' thing of Kakashi, but she accepted to do it yesterday and today just to prove the gaki's patience.

Of course Menma, Mito and Naruto, knowing how Kakashi was, decided to get here later than normal and yesterday Naruto had told Sasuki to do the same. He also told her to eat no matter what Kakashi said, which she ended up doing

On the other hand Kushina had forced both Menma and Mito to eat breakfast before coming, saying that whatever Kakashi had said was nothing but rubbish

Yep, his plan failed completely

Kakashi produced from his pocket a pair of wormed out bells, which make them make noise when he showed them to the Genins.

"Well the test if easy enough. You have to get one of these bells from me before lunch time. If you get a bell before the time runs out you pass, if you don't then you're going back to the Academy"

"Wait, but there are only two of those things" pointed out Sasuki, getting a grin from Anko

"I think the answer is simple to that. Only two bells which means only two of your for can pass. The other two losers will simply go back to the Academy" answered Anko, surprising the Genins, and making Naruto think that there was something else here. Teams of two Genin? That was weird if not unheard off. Something wasn't right

Before any of the Genins could protest Kakashi showed them the clock before saying "Well time is running already, oh and before I forget, make sure to come at us with the intent to kill. Now, Hajime!" and with that the four Genins disappeared in the threes of the training ground, making both Kakashi and Anko nod in acceptance

'At least they got the stealth part right'

"So, Anko-san, wanna hold one of the bells or..." Kakashi stopped talking when he saw that Anko was just sitting there besides the clock with a box of dango Kami knows from where, and eating them quite contently

'Umm, Anko-san, the test" Kakashi talked with a sweat drop, trying to figure out his knew partner

"Huh? This kind of test was your idea Hatake, so you better take responsibilities for it and do it yourself. I'm too busy to play with the gakis anyway" said Anko before starting munching another dango, getting a bigger sweat drop from Kakashi. Anko had other reason for this though. She wanted to see what Naruto would do against someone like Kakashi, so staying in the sidelines for now was what she was going to do.

She was also interested if Naruto would be able to work together with his siblings or if they will fail Kakashi's little bells test because they can't work as a team

So for now, she will only eat and watch

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_An hour later_

'Where the hell are they?' thought a rather bored Anko while throwing another dango stick to a three, making a perfect representation of Konoha's symbol

It has already been one hour and there was no sign of the four Genins. She would believe that by this time someone would have done something, yet no one had, except with Naruto of course.

Now that had been surprising. After a few minutes after the test started Naruto had appeared and challenged Kakashi to a taijutsu match. Of course this surprised the two Jounin since Naruto didn't look like someone who would do something so impulsive.

Their suspicious were confirmed when more clones of Naruto appeared out of nowhere and started fighting against Kakashi with nothing but Taijutsu. Both Jounin were quite surprised not only by Naruto's clones abilities at hand-to-hand combat, but also by the fact that he knew the **_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)_**, a dangerous and secret Kinjutsu that a simply Genin shouldn't know.

In the end Kakashi managed to beat all the clones, only taking a couple of hits because he underestimated them. But that was an hour ago. Since that no other Genin had tried anything at all

And being honest it was annoying Anko to no end

Meanwhile Kakashi was just standing there at the middle of the field, his favorite book on his hand. He had been reading it since after beating Naruto's clones. He was truly impressed by Naruto's fighting style. He was quite good for a Genin, and they were just clone. The real was tougher without a doubt. He was starting to think that he will have to hunt them down if they weren't going to attack by themselves.

He just hoped they got the true meaning of this test fast. After all he really didn't want to fail a team with such promising Genins

Kakashi was taken out of his books by two sets of both kunai and shuriken coming from his right and left. Kakashi dashed backwards while hiding his precious novel, getting out of the attacks range. He was surprised though when all of the weapons changed with a puff, releasing a lot of smoke.

From said smoke at least a dozen of Menma started running straight towards course this didn't surprised Kakashi that much since he knew that both Menma and Mito were able to use the **_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)_**, but that still an ingenious was of using them.

The first clone that reached Kakashi tried to hit him with a simply punch aimed to his face, which Kakashi easily evaded before knee the clone in it's stomach, making it disappear. After that Kakashi crutched, avoiding another clone's high kick before doing a sweep kick that three the clone out of balance and made it puff away

Kakashi stood fast enough to grab the wrist of another clone that tried to attack him from behind, and then he threw him at the closet clone, destroying them both. Kakashi was more than ready to take on the next clone but he was interrupted by another voice

"**_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)_**" yelled Sasuki from Kakashi's behind after doing the last hand seal. From her mouth a human sized fireball went directly towards Kakashi. The Jounin, knowing that just dodging wouldn't work, used the **_Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique)_**__with the clone that was the further away from the jutsu.

Sadly for the silver-haired Jounin this was apparently predicted since as soon as he got out of the fire jutsu he was hit by a powerful gale of wind, courtesy of the original Menma's **_Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)._**

Kakashi did his best to block the jutsu, but he was still a little hurt from it and it also push him backwards. He didn't have time to blink though, since just after the jutsu hit them Mito tried to slash him with a normal looking katana. Kakashi managed to block the attack with his kunai, but his attention went to both Sasuki and Menma, who were starting doing the hand seals for their jutsus again.

Kakashi, alarmed by this, pushed Mito out of his way and started doing his own hand seals for a defensive jutsu. Sadly for him he was stopped when his body became completely numb. The one-eyed Jounin ended up falling face-first in the ground, his body twitching a little bit but showing no other reaction

This was the result of Naruto's attack from his back, or to be more precise Naruto's **_Rairyu no Yashisuto (Lightning Dragon's Palm Strike)._** A spell basically designed for capture. While any lightning attack could easily paralyze the enemy, this spell was focused on that, sending electricity towards the intended target after hitting him, making the body go numb.

This attack had been planned just an hour ago. After Naruto's clones did their job of distracting Kakashi long enough he managed to find Sasuki, grab her and take her out to a place in which they could plan. Naruto was no fool; he knew that by himself defeating a Jounin like Kakashi was hard if not impossible. His sensei had told him that, while he definitely had the raw power of a Jounin he still lacked something important: Experience

That was something that he knew Kakashi had by leaps and bounds. While Naruto's advantage would be the surprise factor, since he was sure that Kakashi would be surprised by his magic and would probably mistake it for some weird jutsu, he was still no sure that he would be able to defeat him, let alone of Anko decided to join the fight, so Naruto decided to simply work together with the team, after all it was what this test was all about

Yes, it didn't take too much time for Naruto to figure out the true meaning of this test. It was quite obvious in fact, after all Konoha was always preaching about teamwork, and teams were known to be of one Jounin and three Genins or two Jounin and four Genins, so having a team with two Genins was simply too unlikely

There was also the fact that no normal Genin would be able to defeat a Jounin, not even two. So Naruto quickly decided that the whole two bells things was simply a way to make the team fight each other

So after kidnapping Sasuki and explaining the real meaning of the test they went to find the rest of the team. It wasn't that difficult for Naruto since while they were a little harder to find than Sasuki they were still no Anko, so it only took them ten minutes to group the whole team

Mito seemed to accept Naruto's logic faster than Naruto expected, but Menma was another business. It was quite obvious that, for some reason that Naruto didn't care about, Menma didn't trust him. It took the combined force of Mito and Sasuki to make sure that Menma accepted to work together

He definitely stopped complaining when Naruto asked how many times he had beaten Kakashi before.

He guessed zero

After that it came time to plan. The surprise factor was their advantage and they used that. In the end the last attack was for Naruto, who moved at a speed far above the one of a Genin and used his **_Rairyu no Yashisuto (Lightning Dragon's Palm Strike)_**

Of course Menma didn't want to trust Naruto with he most important part of the plan, but Naruto just answered that as long as they worked together they would pass. Getting the bells was nothing but an extra way to prove their skills.

He ended up accepting the plan just because it was a three against one. Naruto believed he could easily do it, Sasuki believed in her blonde friend and Mito didn't want to make Naruto mad at her or disappointed by saying no. Besides she trusted her Nii-san, and if he said he could do it then he can

So for popular vote Menma had no choice but to go with the plan that they just used which of course worked quite well.

Naruto easily took both bells from Kakashi's unmoving body. He knew that he will start recovering in a few seconds. Sasuki, Mito and Menma went to surround Kakashi's unmoving form, Sasuki with a smirk and Mito with a barely hidden smile

Menma on the other hand was poking Kakashi with a stick, apparently trying to see if his body would react

Then the sound of clapping came from the other side of the Training Ground, from none other than Anko herself, who had a grin on her face

"Well I have to admit that wasn't so bad... for a Genin that is" She said to them before focusing on the silver-haired Jounin, who was starting to move a little bit "Oh and wait for everyone else to hear this. The proud Kakashi Hakate defeated by a group of Genins. Maybe if you spent less time reading porn and more time training things like this wouldn't happen" she said before grabbing another stick Kami knows from where and started poking the hell out of Kakashi, making him squirm a little bit

Ten minutes later Kakashi stood in front of his new team, Anko on his right, who still looked quite amuse by the fact that Kakashi was defeated so easily "So, I'm going to guess you guys figure out the true meaning of this test?" said Kakashi with a raised eye-brow, getting nods from acknowledgment from the four Genins

"Teamwork" Menma announced, looking quite proud of himself. For what reason Naruto didn't know. But then again Menma always looked like that

"Yes" Anko confirmed, her normal playful expression turned into a serious one "Without teamwork you won't go long or live long. While individual skills are important in the end you're not fighting alone. You have teammates and comrades that watch your back. Trying to do everything alone will only end in a fast death" Anko's voice was quite grim at the end, making the four Genin understand how important it was to work together

"Anko's right" continued Kakashi "Those who break the rules are thrash, but those that abandon their teammates are worst than thrash. Never forget that, since it's something that you will find quite important in the future" eye-smiled Kakashi before coughing into his fist, a look of pride in his eyes

"So for now on I officially approve of Team 7. Tomorrow we start to officially take mission like any other team. Congratulations!"

This of course got an exited cheer from Menma, a relaxing sigh followed by a smile from Mito, a smirk from Sasuki and a rather subdued nod from Naruto.

It was now official. They were a team. Naruto might not like half of the members of it but he will learn to work with them as long as he had. He wasn't going to let their bad relationship to mess with his ninja-carrier

In the not so distant future this day would be remembered as the one that saw the birth of one of the strongest team that Konoha ever made

Sadly, it would also be remembered as the team in which one of Konoha's strongest missing-nin was a part of.

Yes, they will do great things. Good and bad, but great things nonetheless

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

**Damn that was a long chapter. I wasn't planning to make it so long but it ended up just being like this. I have mixed feelings about this one since I felt the last parts were quite rushed since I wanted to take this chapter out fast**

**I apologize for taking so long into releasing this chapter. Next one will probably be shorter but it will also come a lot sooner than this one**

**The poll has already ended. I considered leaving it for more time but at this point it's obvious who won. Mito may have won the poll but that doesn't mean I will make it easy for her. She (and Menma too) will get their own scene with Naruto soon enough.**

**Some people might not like Naruto's team. I found myself thinking of a lot of possibilities, but after discussing it with a friend and throwing dices and coins it ended up being the one you saw in this chapter since I saw it as something logical for Minato to do. He wants Naruto back in the family and him and Kushina are desperate at this point.**

**Yes. I know I tweaked the Kage Bushin a little bit, but I had to. It just a way to easy tool to make any character overpower, and that's something I don't want in this fic. Naruto will get stronger, but it won't be from one day to another.**

**Again, thanks to everyone that followed, favorite and reviewed this fic.**

**Next Chapter: Team 7 missions, a meeting with the youngest Hyuga and a different Wave arc starts!**


	9. Test in Wave

"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

**"Acnologia"** Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings speech

'**Kurama'**Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other beings thoughts

**_"Rasengan"_** Techniques/Spells/Jutsu/Terms

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any source of way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima and their respective owners**

**Chapter 8**

**Test in Wave**

_A few weeks later_

"I'm going to kill this damn cat one of these days" grumbled an angry and annoyed Menma, whose face had a number of scratches all over it, courtesy of the furred demon that his loser brother was holding on his arms

"I have to agree with you on this one, Namikaze. This cat should pay for his deeds!" snarled Sasuki while glaring at the same cat, her hands full of scratches and cuts, courtesy of the stupid animal

"Calm down both of you. Harming the poor thing won't help you at all. I'm sure he's just scared" scolded Mito to the two glaring members of Team 7, trying to stop them from doing anything impulsive or stupid. Of course she kind of understood why they were acting like this, after all this little cat, Tora, made a number on them with his claws. The only reason she didn't get her own set of scratches was because she didn't touch the cat herself

She got the message quite clearly when he hissed at her

Meanwhile Naruto was scratching Tora's head, making the little cat purr in delight. Naruto didn't understand why everyone said that this little fellow here was a demon or something like that. Tora was quite friendly if you asked him, and he was also quite the challenge to catch

Well, except for Naruto. He just had to call Tora and the little cat would come to him for some reason that no one on his team could understand

Just behind the group of Genins were their senseis, Anko Mitarashi and Kakashi Hatake. The silver-haired Jounin was like always reading his precious book with rapt attention while Anko counted the money she had just won from her fellow sensei of Team 7. She had bet that Naruto would find the cat in record time, something that Kakashi really doubted, but she ended up winning quite a lot

Seriously, who would have known that Naruto was good with animals?

The members of Team were walking straight towards the desk in which their Hokage was sitting with a group of Chunins, with the objective of finishing their mission by delivering the cat of the Daimio's wife.

As soon as they got there a rather big woman snatched Tora from Naruto's hand and started hugging the living stuff out of him, making Menma and Sasuki both grin evilly at them, to Mito to sweat drop while understanding why the cat escaped in the first play in to Naruto to actually feel respect for the cat.

After all anyone that could endure what that woman was going to Tora should be considered a hero on his own rights

Minato couldn't contain the proud smile that appeared on his face as soon as he saw his children's team. From all the other new teams this one was right now the one with the best development. Their mission record was quite impressive for a new team, their teamwork was better than average (which was impressive itself considering the members) and their individual skill were also top notch

Since the team was formed both Kakashi and Anko had been drilling team exercise on the four Genins without rest. Naruto had no problem working with Sasuki, and he was willing to work together with his former siblings just for the sake of the team. Mito and Sasuki also worked well with the other members of the team, although Sasuki more than once ended in a heated discussion with Menma over the most simply things. Menma on the other hand, while actually willing to work with Naruto, would always make some rude comment about his older brother. Of course both Kakashi and Anko did their best to stop that kind of behavior but Menma was unwilling to change his attitude towards Naruto

Why? Just two people knew and they would never tell anyone else

Besides teamwork they also thought the team chakra control, something that every member had a different set of skills. Sasuki was the one with the less training. She was still in the tree climbing exercise. She wasn't new on that, but she had yet to truly master the exercise itself. Meanwhile both Menma and Mito were still stuck on the water walking exercise. The problem with them was that they had too much chakra, thanks to certain fox, and so they had troubles with their chakra control more than everyone else

Naruto was on another lever however. Both Kakashi and Anko found themselves with nothing to teach him since he was already going the kunai balancing exercise while water walking, something that no Genin should be able to do. Of course this brought some question to both Kakashi and Anko, jealousy to Menma, who thought his weak brother shouldn't be able to do that. Pride to Mito, who thought that her Nii-san was awesome and awe to Sasuki, who was again was impressed by how her friend true skills were

Naruto ended up just helping Sasuki with her own training, much to the delight of the young Uchiha and to the slight jealous of certain red-head.

Another thing that the team found out was their Elemental affinities. Anko has gotten hold on some chakra paper and since she was curious about the team's affinity she made everyone use them. Just to demonstrate both Kakashi and Anko had gone first, Kakashi's showing his affinity towards fire and lightning and Anko towards both fire and earth. Mito and Menma already knew theirs, but they still went on with it, although Menma did it more to boast than any other reason

Mito's affinity were water and wind, just like her mother according to Kakashi, while Sasuki, in honor to her Uchiha blood, had a strong affinity towards fire, but she also had affinity towards lightning.

With the boys Menma had actually showed three affinities, water, wind and lightning, getting a smug look and a smirk from the blonde directed at Naruto, almost as if challenging him to do better than that. Naruto though was quite peculiar. The paper cut itself in half, which meant affinity towards wind, but then both half's of the paper started to actually release some sparks, the left one blue and the right one completely black, surprising everyone there since not even Kakashi had gotten such a response to his lightning affinity

This of course confirmed Naruto's suspicion about his affinities. Lightning was no surprise, and he had a hunch that wind would be another one. The black sparks were a surprise though, but he guessed that was probably just some reaction towards his **_Yami no Maho (Dark Magic)_**, something that Zeref later agreed to.

"Team 7 reporting in, Hokage-sama" spoke Kakashi, getting a nod from the blonde Hokage

"Good job as always team 7. Now, there are more D-rank mission here that you can..." started Minato, however he stopped once he saw both Kakashi and Anko move a step forward while the Genins stayed back

"Hokage-sama, we, as senseis of Team 7, request a C-rank mission" said Anko in a formal tone completely weird for her, getting a raised eyebrow from Minato, and surprised expressions from most of the Genins of the team

"Are you sure that this team is ready for that?" questioned Minato while looking at both former members of ANBUs with nothing but seriousness. This was not a decision to take lightly, after all while most C-rank mission were easy for Genin teams, sometimes the mission became harder thanks to so unpredictable variant

For example, missing-nins.

"We are, Hokage-sama" said Kakashi in the same formal tone that Anko used.

Minato kept the look for a while, but at the inside he was thinking of what mission give to this team. There was in fact a mission that would be perfect for this team. There was a slight problem though. While it was considered C-rank, it was in fact almost a B-rank, especially considering the second part of the mission.

"Very well, in that case team 7 will start their first C-rank mission tomorrow" announced the Hokage, getting two nods from the Jounin, an exited punch to the air from Menma, a smirk from Sasuki, a small proud smile from Mito and a simply nod from Naruto

"Let them in" said Minato to the Chunin on his right, getting a nod of understanding before said Chunin left. After a few moments the doors of the room opened again showing two different persons

One of them was an old grey-haired, bespectacled man with a large beard and dark wore a sleeveless v-neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals. He also carried a towel around his neck and wore a pointed hat on his head

Just beside him was another younger man with short spiky black hair and black eyes. He had a small white rope tied around his head which was tied on the right side of his head and a small x-shaped scar on his chin. He wore a black T-shirt that had a white outline and a white pair of pants. He also had scars on his arms

"Team 7, this are the men that you will be protecting for your C-rank mission. These are Tazuna-san and Kaiza-san, from **_Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves)_**" said Minato, signaling to the two man that just entered

The younger of the two, Kaiza, gave the team a polite smile and a nod, while Tazuna on the other hand actually snorted at seeing them

"This is all we get? A group of brats, a Cyclops and..." Tazuna stopped when he saw Anko, and after seeing her for ten full seconds and blinking twice his whole demeanor changes "...thinking about it, I guess this team might not be that bad"

And with that Tazuna actually got a punch on the top of his head, courtesy of Kaiza "Stop acting like a creep, old man" said Kaiza, who then directed a smile towards the team "I'm sorry for this old geezer, he just can't help himself. I think we lost him a few years ago anyway" then he smiled nervously, getting some sweat drops from the members of team 7 and a feral grin from Anko that promised punishment if Tazuna tried something

"Team 7, your mission is simple. You will escort both Tazuna-san and Kaiza-san to **_Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves)_**. There you will act as their bodyguards for a time. You will leave tomorrow early, so you won't do any more missions today. Dismiss" and with that the two men and the members of team 7 started leaving the place, but before that Minato's voice sounded once again

"Kakashi, Anko you two stay, there's something I need to discus with you" this got puzzled looks from most of the team and a raised eyebrow from Naruto, but no one said anything. Both Jounins gave a nod to their Genins who left after seeing that

Now outside the members of team 7 found themselves with nothing to do. Before anyone could say anything Naruto disappeared in a **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_**. He had things to pack and prepare, and he had to tell his sensei that he would be out of the village for a while

With a sad sigh at not being able to talk to her Nii-san, Mito left to her house, followed by Menma who would ask her Kaa-san to teach him that jutsu as soon as he saw her.

Sasuki also left, although she was a little ticked off by the fact that Naruto just left like that. Where were his manners?!

None of them knowing that their first C-rank mission would turn into nothing but a test to one of their members

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_The next day_

'Well... this could have gone better' thought Naruto with a sweat drop while watching the fallen forms of the three idiots that tried to attack him. He had warned them about it but they ended up doing it anyway, which ended with them getting their ass beaten by Naruto easily

Naruto had woken up early, and with everything packed he was more than ready to go to the meeting point for his first c-rank mission, which was Konoha's entrance gate, but it was still a little early, so the young blonde simply decided to walk there instead of just using the **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_**.

On his way there he had actually ended up walking by the training ground he always used with Sasuki. Like always he expected the place to be empty, but he was surprised when he found four people there

Three of them were guys, probably of twelve or thirteen years of age, that Naruto had never met. His attention wasn't on them though. It was on the smaller girl that was in front of them.

Said girl was young, so Naruto had guessed she was ten years old. Said girl had dark brown hair with long parted bangs with a single lock of hair falling into her face. She also had large, white eyes which meant she was from the Hyuga clan. She was wearing a sleeveless, blue v-neck shirt, with mesh armor underneath and blue shorts and sandals.

Naruto ended up being to curious about what they were doing in a place that practically no one used, so he had gotten close to hear what they were saying, and what he heard wasn't good at all

The three boys were taunting the younger girl, saying stuff about how her eyes were weird and how her whole clan was weird and unnatural. Naruto didn't know if those boys went to the academy or not, but he knew that, just like any other clan, the Hyuga clan trained their members before they entered the Academy and their training went on even when they got in a team

So Naruto ended up actually fearing what the little girl would do to the boys once she lost her cool. Of course Naruto didn't really care about a bunch of bullies, but he was actually more worried about the girl ending traumatized because she killed three idiots with her Juken

So, wanting to defuse the situation before anything went out of control Naruto ended up revealing himself to the group. He tried to make the boys left, he honestly did.

But after a few seconds of them saying anything, one of them muttered the word 'demon', and their bad-mouthing went from the girl to him

Of course Naruto didn't even bother responding to the insults, which apparently angered the group of bullies, who were stupid enough to attack Naruto

Apparently they didn't see Naruto's forehead protector, or they were too stupid to register what it meant

In the end Naruto just defeated them after a few seconds without even breaking a sweat, shacking his head sadly and muttering about dumb civilians.

Which bring us to our current situation of Naruto looking at the young Hyuga girl, whose big white eyed were looking directly at Naruto without blinking and showing a good amount of curiosity, not knowing what to say

"Are you ok?" asked Naruto, not knowing what else to say right now. This just got a nod from the young Hyuga, which didn't really help the situation

"Hanabi Hyuga" said the young girl, her voice quite, yet firm "That's my name"

This made Naruto blink. He forgot that he hadn't really introduced himself to the girl, which she just did. "A pleasure to meet you Hanabi-san. My name's Naruto" introduced himself Naruto, deciding to not say his last name. He had been doing this for a while. After all he wasn't part of that family, so why use their last name?

As soon as he said his name Hanabi's eye widened just for a moment before she calmed herself. She had come here for a reason, and that reason was the person just in front of her

"I could have dealt with them myself" said Hanabi, but without any arrogance of anything like that. Just like she was staying an unquestionable fact, which she probably was

"I know, but there was no reason for you to dirt your hand with this scum, was it?" replied Naruto, getting another little nod of acknowledgment from Hanabi, who's eyes were still glued to Naruto's

Sadly for the young girl, since she would have liked to spent more time with the young blonde, Naruto had to leave since he still had a mission to go to, so after saying a fast goodbye, the young blonde decided to just use **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_** to get there since his mood was already ruined by the idiots he just beat.

After he left Hanabi, having nothing else to do, also started walking out of the place, completely ignoring the unconscious form of the three boys. She had come here for a reason. She had asked her Onee-sama if she knew where Naruto spent his time and the only place Hinata could think of was of this training ground, since more than once she had watched Naruto train here.

So Hanabi had come here expecting to see the blonde, but she ended up being confronted by those three idiots who had seen her enter this training ground and started talking shit about her clan. Hanabi was more than ready to make them eat their words but Naruto had appeared just before she could and had delivered punishment to them by himself

Hanabi had finger on her chin and a face that showed that she was deep in thought. Her meeting with the blonde Genin repeating itself in her mind over and over. It had been short but she at least got a little glimpse of how he was, which was better than anything

If Naruto had been able to read minds, he would have been definitely shocked by what Hanabi was just thinking; after all it was something that affected him directly but that he had no idea bout what so ever

'Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze... so you're the one I'm going to marry with... interesting"

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile, with Zeref_

While his apprentice was starting his first C-rank mission, the powerful dark mage known as Zeref was in another place completely different to where he usually trained Naruto

Of course the difference itself was just the location, since right now Zeref was not in the training room in Konoha that he used to train Naruto. No, he actually was in another training room that looked exactly the same, the only true difference being that this place had more rooms and that you could enter it from a secret passage, not just by using magic circles

Traveling by using magic circles was a complicated branch of magic. While some people might believe that it was easy since the only thing you needed were two magical circled connected in two different places, it was in fact harder than that. For example the magic circle itself was a tricky thing to craft. You had to be a master in the art since just one tiny mistake when making it could end in anyone that used the magic circle to teleport in losing a limb, or even died.

There was also the matter of distance. The bigger the distance it was between the two circles it was easier for the connecting to weak and for the circled to either stop working or to make mistakes at the time of the transportation. There was also the fact that when someone activated a magical circle it used your own magic to send you away, and the farthest the other place was the most magic it would cost the person that was transported.

It was for that reason that training room that Zeref used to train Naruto was so close to Konoha. Since Naruto's magical core was practically fresh new Zeref didn't want to strain it by making travel too hard for the young boy.

Besides it was better for now that Naruto didn't know that he had more places like that one and this one all around the continent. Zeref would tell him everything, yes, but that was in due time

Right now Zeref was standing in the middle of the room, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes focused in the three figures that were right know kneeling before him

You couldn't tell a lot about the figures since they had completely black cloaks covering their whole body. But guessing by their bodies you could tell that the middle one was definitely a man, while the two others were probably woman. Another thing to notice was that the figure in the middle had a massive sword on his back.

These were some of the people Zeref had at his disposal. During his travels around the Elemental Nations he had gathered a group of Shinobi and Kunoichi, all loyal to him and no one else. He hadn't meant to do it at the start, since the idea of having followers was never something that Zeref had wanted that much, but he ended up recruiting them simply because they could be useful.

After all he wasn't a god. He couldn't do everything and be everywhere at the same time. Whatever was coming Zeref was sure, no one could handle it alone

"You understand your mission?" asked Zeref, his calm and emotionless voice echoing everywhere. None of the three figures raised their head, they just answered with a clear "Hai!" making Zeref nod in acceptance

"Then go... And don't go easy on him. If he dies there then... He just wasn't meant to go forward" Said Zeref, receiving another confirmation from the three cloaked people who left the place as soon as their mission was given. They had to move fast. This was an important mission and they couldn't fail

Zeref stood in the middle of the room, his eyes closed and his body unmoving. He could easily sense the other individual that was hidden in the shadows here. He had called him after all

"And what about me, boss? Don't I get someone to play with?" asked a figure from the shadows, his voice full of craziness and mocking, almost making Zeref release a sigh. The dark mage was already use to dealing with this guy, but it was still annoying

Why from all people that he had killed, the Shinigami had to bring this one back to life?

"You already know your task, don't make me repeat myself" answered Zeref in the same calm voice, but the figure in the shadows could easily detect the hiding threat on it.

Who cares, though?

"But c'mon! Why can't I go and play with the kid?! Instead you send me to act as a distraction of all things! Not cool man, not cool at all!" whined the mysterious figure, getting a pointer look from Zeref, which even though it wasn't a glare, it was still scary on his own right

"Tch... fine! I'll go and play fucking decoy. I hope that those two at least give me a good challenge. I better leave now; Deidara must have his panties twisted already since I just disappeared out of a sudden. That guy should learn how to calm down, it's not like Zetsu keeps an eye on us 24/7 anyway." and with that the figure in the shadows disappeared using the magic circle that was in the back of the room, leaving Zeref truly alone this time.

The dark mage didn't dwell too much in this place though. He simply moved to one of the magic circled around and used to leave. It was what made this particular base important. It connected to all the other bases that Zeref had.

The last thoughts of Zeref before leaving were of his students. Some people might consider him evil for what he had just sent against him, but it was something that Zeref considered essential. Zeref wanted Naruto to be strong, but for that Naruto needed to face challenges that would test him to his utmost capacity.

He had confidence in his apprentice, and he _knew_ that he would be able to past this one just like any other Zeref had sent him and that he would send in the future.

Unknown to the dark mage, he wasn't the only one preparing a test for the young blonde. No there was another being that was already planning to use his pawn in order to test Naruto

It was a certain white-haired servant of the Shinigami

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_The next day_

"There's my pride and joy!" said an exited and happy Tazuna while pointing at the big bridge that connected **_Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves)_** with the rest of the continent

The journey had been actually quite calm and without any complications. Normally getting to this bridge would be just a matter of one day for a Shinobi, but since the team 7 was forced to travel at civilian pace they ended up taking a whole day to get here

Of course some questions about the place itself were asked while walking, which Kaiza happily answered for everyone. When Menma asked about from who they were protecting Tazuna and Kaiza from, both men turned serious out of the sudden and they said they would explain once they reached their home.

So, besides Tazuna's tries of ogling Anko, which ended bad for the old man, the journey here went without a pinch

Right now the members of team 7, leaded by Kaiza and Tazuna, were walking though the bridge tat Tazuna had built in order to make trades with the rest of the land easier. Konoha and Nami normally treaded things with regularity, although Nami also traded with other villages, like Suna.

Naruto noticed that the bridge had some burns marks on some places and that the bridge itself looked a little shaken up. Like if some big explosion occurred here. Naruto decided to wait until later to ask about it.

After walking for a while, in which team 7 saw some people of the land, which was no surprise considering that it was early, all happily waving and greeting both Tazuna and Kaiza. Apparently the two of them were quite popular in this place, the group ended upon a simple looking two-store house.

"Tou-san, Jii-chan!" as soon as the group entered the house they were greeted by two people. One of them was a young boy, who hugged Kaiza as soon as he entered. Said boy had spiky black hair and dark-colored wore a green jumpsuit with a yellow shirt and a simple pair of sandals. He also wore a blue and white striped hat

Just behind the boy a woman in her late twenties appeared and gave Kaiza a kiss on the cheek. This woman had long blue-colored hair. She was wearing a short-sleeved pink shirt with the end of the sleeves and the collar being red in color.

After introduction were given, in which team 7 found out that the little boy was named Inari and that the woman's name was Tsunami and that they were Kaiza's son and wife and Tazuna's daughter and grandson, the members of team 7 were grouped in the house's dinner room, since apparently Tsunami was already finishing lunch.

It was a tight fit, but they managed to sit everyone around the table to eat. Kaiza was at the head of the table, with Tsunami to his right and Inari to his left. Beside Inari there was Naruto, Sasuki and Anko, while beside Tsunami there were Mito, Menma and Kakashi. Tazuna sat himself at the other extreme of the table

The meal was simple, yet really good. The meal was also filled with chatter. From Tazuna and Kakashi talking about the wonders of Icha-Icha to Inari asking Naruto about why he dyed his hair black, to which Naruto just answered "puberty"

The conversation stopped though, when Menma asked something that had been nagging him for a while

"I don't get it. We didn't find anyone on our way here and this place looks to nice to have any threat. Why do you need bodyguards, Tazuna-san, Kaiza-san?" asked Menma while scratching his head with confusion obvious on his face. This got everyone's attention to go to Kaiza who released a sigh after seeing the nod his father-in-law gave him, which meant it was now his time to tell their story

"Well you see..." and thus Kaiza started telling the story of what had happened in **_Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves)_**in the recent years. He told them how he had saved Inari from drowning. How he had met Tsunami and Tazuna after that. How he and Tsunami had fallen in love with each other and had married after a while and how they lived quite happily for a while

Then he went about how the man knows as Gato, former owner of the shipping company known as Gato Transport, had come to **_Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves)_**in order to put the place under his control. Kaiza told them how he and the people of Nami tried to group together in order to release their land from Gato's control, which made Gato retaliate with deadly force. It was at that moment that Kaiza said something that shocked Naruto a lot

"Gato's men were more than ready to execute me. They were even going to cut my hands just to prove everyone who idiotic was to go against him" said Kaiza in a dark tone, making Tsunami to grab his hand under the table and to Inari to show an angry expression just at the thought of Gato, but it was wiped of once Kaiza ruffled the young boys hair "But I was saved. To this day I don't know the name of the man who did it, but just before Gato's man went to cut my arms this guy with black hair and dark eyes, wearing some clothes that I have never seen and with a cold expression, appeared and killed everyone there with his bare hands"

This of course surprised everyone, but not more than Naruto, who couldn't help but to link the guy that saved Kaiza with his sensei. The general description fitted, yes, but why would his sensei do anything like this? In fact, weren't this just a few years back? He spent almost all of the last six years with his sensei, so this couldn't have been him... right?

He would have to ask once he got to Konoha again

"How did he exactly killed him, Kaiza-san?" asked an interested Anko, who wanted to know more about this mysterious savior

"I don't know... He just moved to fast for everyone to see. At one moment he was there and there at the next one he was helping me get out of my binds and everyone but Gato was dead. Some had missed limbs, some have wholes in their bodies and some just looked death but had no wounds. Then the man went to Gato killed him with a sword that appeared out of nowhere" explained Kaiza, more interested looks from the members of team 7

"I have never seen that man again, but is thanks to him that I live today and that **_Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves)_**wasn't taken under Gato's control" continued Kaiza with a grateful smile, receiving a hug from Tsunami.

"After that I decided that it was better if we had a way to connect us with the rest of the continent in case someone like Gato appeared again, so I started with the construction of the bridge you guys saw." Said Tazuna, getting the attention of everyone.

"The problem is that, lately there had been some attacks to the bridge. Some people had started using bombs in order to damage the bridge and they also started destroying people's business while everyone is asleep at night. That's why we hired protection from Konoha. To make sure nothing happened to us until the situation was fixed" explained Tazuna with a tired sigh, obviously more than tired of the situation.

After that explanation lunch continued as normal, all the members of team 7 with different thoughts on their heads. Everyone were so caught up in their thoughts that no one noticed the small nod Anko gave Kakashi after the meal ended

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Next day, in a small lake in the forest close to Nami_

Sitting in a beautiful clearing, surrounded by trees and a small crystalline lake was none other than Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, apprentice of Zeref and dragon slayer of lightning

The young blonde was waken up earlier than the rest and, since his turn to watch over Tazuna's family wasn't until later, he decided to explore around the place a little bit, maybe find a spot in which he could train or meditate for a while

It was with those expectations that Naruto went to explore the forest that was close to Tazuna's house. Naruto honestly wasn't expecting to find any place magnificent or any like that, but once he got to this clearing he was definitely surprised and awed by how beautiful it was

The trees ended in a simply clearing filled with grass, with multiple types of flowers growing in certain spots. Beyond that there was a lake filled with nothing but crystalline water that made you wants to dip in and enjoy the water as much as one could

Of course Naruto stayed in this place, just relaxing and enjoying the feeling of peace and calmness that this place gave him. He didn't know why but this place just made him forget all about the problems and questions that plagued his mind

Naruto didn't drop his guard though. There was a reason for that after all

He wasn't alone

"It's beautiful, isn't" spoke a melodic and feminine voice from behind Naruto, which actually didn't surprised the young blonde at all. He had felt this person presence a few minutes back but decided to not act or anything since he couldn't feel any threatening aura from said individual

Every since Naruto had started practicing **_Yami no Maho (Dark Magic)_**; he found that it was easier for him to read people. It wasn't like he could read minds or anything like that, but he could easily detect when someone meant to harm him. Of course this six sense of him didn't work if the person didn't meant to cause him bad, which made it useless against someone like Anko who just wanted to annoy him, or to surprise him by attacking him, but that in the bottom didn't meant to cause him harm.

This was the product of not only his teaching of **_Yami no Maho (Dark Magic)_**, but also a side-effect of having the soul of a dragon inside the lacrima that gave him his **_Kaminari no_****_Metsuryū Mahō_****_(Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic)_**.

It wouldn't be the only benefice Naruto would get for that though

"It is" answered Naruto in a calm and peaceful voice, looking at the figure that just walked to his side before sitting beside him, her brown eyes looking directly at the lake

This girl was quite beautiful. She had long black hair, pale skin and large, dark-brown eyes, a slender frame and she was slightly shorter than Naruto. She was wearing a pink, sleeveless kimono, with pale red edges and decorated with small plum-colored swirls that went to his ankles. Around her waist was a simple white obi tied in a bow, and she wore a pair of light brown sandals with dark straps. She also wore a dark-colored choker around her neck.

The two of them said nothing else for a while. They just sat there, admiring the natural beauty that the place offered. The silence wasn't awkward at all; it was more of a comfortable one.

Of course after a while someone had to break the ice

"You are not from around here, are you?" asked the girl in a kind and curios tone, her eyes now looking directly at Naruto, or to be more precise, Naruto's forehead protector

"Not really. I came here to Nami just because of my job" answered Naruto while touching his forehead protector "What about you? You live around here?"

The girl only shook her head at hearing Naruto's question, which apparently meant she wasn't from here "I travel a lot with a group of friends. We decided to stop here in Nami for a while to get supplies, and I came here to see if I could find some medicinal herbs, just in case we might need them. My friends can be quite the bunch when they try" the black-haired girl said with a giggle, apparently remembering something that her friends did that was funny. Naruto couldn't help but to smile a little at seeing how happy she was when she talked about her friends

"What about you?" asked the girl with curiosity present on her face "Do you have anyone special to you?"

As soon as she asked that Naruto's mind flashed to two completely different people. The first one being his sensei and father in all but blood, Zeref. The second one was his first friend, teammate and most important person in his hearth beside Zeref, Sasuki Uchiha.

"I guess... I don't have a lot of them but there are some people that I deeply care about" Naruto didn't know why he had answered something personal like that. He just found it easy to talk to this girl, which was extremely weird since he had just met her a few minutes ago

"Then you can become strong" said the girl after a while, her eyes looking directly at Naruto with nothing but understanding in them.

"What do you mean?"

"I believe that, only when you have people that you care about... that only when you have people that you want to protect with everything you have, you can become truly strong" those words really hit home with Naruto. They sounded a lot like what his sensei had told him a long time ago. About how true strength could only be found in the bonds you made with the people you called friends and family.

The young blonde found himself nodding unconsciously, his gaze going from the girl's brown eyes to the lake once again "Those are truly wise words" commented Naruto to the girl, not knowing what else to say at this point

"They are, aren't they? A really important friend of mine told them to me a long time ago, and I have kept those words in my heart ever since" said the girl, her eyes had a far away look, like she was remembering something from the past that deeply affected her.

"This friend of yours, I think I would like to met someone like him" at Naruto's words the girl released another small giggle, and Naruto wondered if there was a joke he missed or something

"Maybe you will. Sadly he is far away from here right now, helping someone that needed him" answered the girl, getting Naruto more interested in the person that was her friend.

After that little exchange the two of them stayed in a comfortable silence for a while now, both losing the track of time. Naruto didn't exactly who this girl was, be he found himself comfortable in her presence.

It got late though, and Naruto had to leave since his shift in guarding Tazuna would come soon. The black haired beauty beat him to the punch though, since before Naruto said anything she stood up, straighten her kimono and gave Naruto a warm smile

"I hope this won't be the last time we see each other" said the girl, getting another small smile from Naruto

"I hope so too... uhm..." Naruto showed a confused expression, just now understanding the fact that neither he nor the girl had said their names to each other. The black haired girl apparently caught up in his trouble, since she released another giggle before saying

"My name is Haku, nice to meet you, Shinobi-san"

"A pleasure to be your acquaintance, Haku-san. My name is Naruto"

And after that the girl was gone. Naruto's gaze actually stayed glued to her form until she was out of his sight. Naruto released a sigh before standing up, actually missing the presence of the girl, Haku, already. He didn't know if it was healthy to be so interested in a person he just met, but he couldn't help but to want to talk to her more

So when Naruto finally left the small clearing with the lake, his thoughts were of the black haired girl he had just met, and if he would see her again tomorrow

He could only hope

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_One week later_

A week has passed since Naruto first meeting with Haku, and things in Nami have been nothing but peaceful, except for a few incident here and there

Naruto has been coming to the same place at the same time every day for the last week, and everyday Haku would appear shortly after. The two would simply have small chat, normally just talking about random stuff and never discussing their past. Other times they would just enjoy the others presence while simply admiring the natural beauty that their gathering place offered

Their meetings ended up becoming the thing that Naruto liked the most about his stay here in Nami. Of course he disappearing every morning brought question from the rest of the team

Sasuki, Mito and Anko were especially curious about it, while Kakashi thought that Naruto deserved some free time and Menma didn't care at all. Naruto just told them that he was taking a walk through the forest, searching for a good spot for training.

Of course he didn't tell anyone about his meting with Haku. He had the feeling that nothing good would come out of that

Especially if he told it to Anko or Sasuki. He could already picture it. Anko would tease him without remorse and Sasuki would get mad for reasons he couldn't understand

He would have to ask his sensei if there was a way of understanding the female mind. Sadly that was one subject that Zeref wasn't a master of it

Beside that there hasn't being anything noteworthy happenings here in Nami. Anko and Kakashi had the job of supervising the bridge's reconstruction while Naruto, Sasuki, Mito and Menma would normally either escort Tazuna or Kaiza to wherever they went or would stay and watch over the house.

There was something that none of the Genins knew though. It was part of the second mission Minato had given to both Kakashi and Anko. Since Konoha and Nami traded goods every since the bridge was built it was important to not let it destroyed or to let someone else terrorize Nami to submission

For this Minato had tasked both Kakashi and Anko to find the leader of the group that was trying to create chaos in Nami and deal with them accordingly.

Both Tazuna and Kaiza had already been informed of this, and they were both grateful for Konoha's help. They even said that if Konoha helped them with this one Nami would always be an ally of Konoha, even if it was only for trading goods.

It was for that reason that every night, after leaving a clone to make guard around Tazuna's house, both Kakashi and Anko would go and scout the area, searching for the base of whoever was leading the attacks to the bridge. They guessed that the base wouldn't be that far from Nami itself, and they were right. Just a few days ago they had found their little camp. It was filled with thugs and low-life criminals that thought that they could control Nami like Gato had once tried.

Sadly both Jounins didn't get the chance to see the leaders face. They knew where he was. It was quite obvious considering that there tent in the camp that was obviously for the leader of the group.

From Tazuna's house to the campmate it took both Anko and Kakashi little more than two hours to go between the places. Both Jounins had left the night before, around midnight in fact, in order to deal with them by themselves. They didn't tell the Genins simply because, in their opinion, they weren't ready for this.

They had left a note saying that they had left in order to deal with some problems, and that they would be back early the next day.

Right now Naruto was walking in the deep of Nami's forest. Normally he would have already reached the spot in which he usually talked to Haku, but today was different

Someone was tailing him

He knew who she was. He had been patient and had been walking around in circled. Heck, he even stood in the same place for a while, waiting for the person that decided to follow him today to just leave. He didn't want her to know the exact location of the place that had become his favorite spot in this forest, and he was sure that she would give up after a while of him just walking around doing nothing

He was apparently wrong though.

Naruto stopped moving and just stood there, taking deep and calming breaths. If it was Sasuki he wouldn't be really mad, just a little annoyed, but why was _she_ following around like that? He was able to work and act civil towards her, but if this were the things she was going to do, spy on him, then this time was truly doomed to fail.

"Come out of there already, Mito. You're not fooling anyone" said Naruto to no one in particular, almost like he was talking alone, but he knew she heard him, and it was proved once that the form of Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze appeared in front of him after jumping from a tree.

For a few seconds neither Naruto nor Mito said anything. Naruto's eyes looking directly at Mito, while the red-headed girl couldn't match her Nii-san stare. She felt embarrassed that her Nii-san discovered her so easily, and know she was afraid that she might have pissed him off by doing following him

But she had to! What if her Nii-san ended up in troubles or something like that!? What if something happened while he was here!? What if someone attacked him!? Mito would never forgive herself if something happened to her beloved Nii-san and she wasn't there to either stop it or help him

That was the problem with this relationship. Mito wanted to protect someone that didn't need nor wanted protection

Specially if it was her who did the protection

"Why were you following me?" Naruto asked bluntly, and his question, along with his cold voice, actually made Mito flinch.

"I'm sorry, Nii-san. I just wanted to make sure you were right.I-I have been worried about you" answered Mito while looking directly at Naruto's cold eyes, although the last part was said with a downcast gaze, which made her unable to see how Naruto's eyes went from expressionless to a hard glare

Meanwhile Naruto scoffed mentally, his feelings for her former sister passing though his hearth. From everyone in that cursed family she had been the only one to show him love and care, to act like he was a real member of the family, to make him feel welcomed, loved, wanted, and not like a waste of space, of someone that would be better of death

And that what made her the worse of that family

For seven years, she was his life-line. She was the only light in the darkness that was his life. It was hard, but he could have lived without the rest of his family as long as he had her. As long as he had her dear Mito-Nee-chan by his side he knew he could have been happy

But then she turned her back on him, and became exactly like the rest of her cursed family

And that hurt more than any other training that Zeref gave him and beating that the people of Konoha could ever give him

He was used to feel unloved by the rest of his former family, but to see the only person that ever showed him love turn the cold shoulder to him and start treating him like a pest was the thing that truly broke Naruto on the inside. It was after that that he truly felt worthless. He felt like he was truly better of death. He had lost the only family he ever had.

It was for that reason that he accepted Zeref so easily.

Naruto had nothing and no one, so when someone offered him a hand; he took him as fast as he could

It was sad though, how the life of this two brothers and sister was so deeply affected by the act of certain white haired man

But such was the life of a pawn in the great game that was the war between the Gods

"Stop joking around Mito. Leave and don't do this ever again" said Naruto, his voice cold and emotionless, hiding the building anger that was inside of him. The young blonde turned around, wanting to end this little meeting with his former sister already

But it wouldn't be that easy

Mito's head moved so fast that it almost made a sound, her violet eyes looking at the back of her Nii-san with a mix of shock, disbelief and hurt. Joking? He thought she was joking? What was that supposed to mean? He thought she didn't love him? How could he believe that?! Mito knew their relationship wasn't the best, but she didn't thought it was this bad!

She had to fix it

Now

"Wait, Nii-san!" all but yelled Mito while grabbing a hold of Naruto's hand. Sadly for her as soon as she did that Naruto snatched his hand away from his grip while turning to see her, this time not hiding how angry he was.

His glare mad Mito freeze death cold

"Stop calling me that!" Naruto's voice was cold. He had gotten better at controlling his emotions since his confrontation with Minato and Kushina, so he was not going to start screaming bloody murder now, but he knew Mito would not stop nagging him if he didn't set things straight now "You don't get to call me that. You don't get to act like we're family, Mito. We stopped being that a long time ago. You made that quite clear years ago. It was _you_ who decided to cut me from your life, not me, so you don't get to act like if everything was ok, or like nothing had happened. here's no relationship between us, the only thing that ties me to you and that family of yours if my fricking blood, and if I could I would change that in a heartbeat!" by the end of his rant Naruto was looking at Mito straight at her eyes, his gaze showing cold rage that he felt towards his former sister. In his opinion she had betrayed him, and that was something that he would never forget.

Meanwhile Mito felt that every word her Nii-san yelled at her was like a stab on her hearth. Her mind had a complete shutdown at hearing the harmful words that her Nii-san told her. How could this be? Her worst fear had become true. Her beloved Nii-san hated her. She couldn't believe it, but it was true. Mito could already feel the tears that threatened to escape her eyes.

How could she have messed up so badly? She knew that listening to the stupid Kyubi was going to come and haunt her forever, but wasn't losing the love of her Nii-san like this too much? She knew that what she had done was bad, but she did it to protect him! She did it because of someone targeted him because of her or their family she would never forgive herself for that

She didn't though things would go so bad that her Nii-san would actually say that if he could he would change his blood just to be completely free of their family. That certainly hurt Mito more than anything. She felt like so hopeless in that moment that she could truly say it was the worst day of her life

Sadly it was just beginning

Mito couldn't let this just end like this, she just couldn't! There had to be a way for her to fix this. She just needed to try. She wasn't going to just let her Nii-san walk away from her like this, from her life.

Mito was about to say something, but she was caught up by surprise when Naruto tackled her to the ground, just before a whoosh sound passed over them. Just at it did the thing that made said sound stopped cold when it hit a tree.

As soon as it happen both her and Naruto stood up, and Mito couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her mouth when she saw what made that sound

Stucked in a tree was what could be described as a gigantic sword, but that wasn't the biggest surprise though. No, the surprise was the person that was standing on the sword with his arms crossed over his chest and looking at them with a glare

This person was a tall and noticeably muscular man with pale skin, short spiky black hair, brown eyes, and small eyebrows. His face was being covered by bandages like a mask. His chest was bare, and he was just wearing baggy pants with the striped pattern typical of Kirigakure and mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, with matching leg-warmers. He was also wearing a forehead protector sideways on his head, with the symbol of Kiri on it, and a slash going right through the middle of it

Of course Mito was completely surprised and confused by the appearance of this man, who was obviously a missing Nin. Mito didn't know who he was, but he looked dangerous. Even after all that was just said Mito's primary concern was the safety of Naruto, so she was just about to grab Naruto and make a run for it, since she didn't knew who her enemy was

Naruto's word beat her though

"To see someone like you here... Zabuza Momochi, **_Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Hidden Mist)_**, one of the members of the **_Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū_****_(Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist)_**, I guess I must really curse my luck" Naruto's voice was dead serious while his expression was practically unreadable, but on the inside he was having a maelstrom of rage. Of course as soon as Naruto was told that he was going to a place like Nami he investigated the different missing Nin that someone could find in his Bingo book. It was another thing that Zeref had gotten and just told him to memorize, which he did, so it was no surprise that he recognized Zabuza

The sword was kind of a big clue anyway

Meanwhile Mito was now both more surprised and even more worried. Surprised that her Nii-san knew who this guy was, and dead worried that he was someone so famous. Her Kaa-san had told her stories about the **_Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū_****_(Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist)_**, and they were not pretty, so meting one like this was definitely a reason to be concerned about

Zabuza actually released a nasty chuckle at hearing Naruto's revelation of his info in the bingo book, his eyes looking just at Naruto and acting like if Mito wasn't even there " It seems you're well informed, gaki. In that case you should know why I'm here" and with that both Naruto and Mito were hit by Zabuza's powerful killing intent, which was quite powerful for a Jounin

Naruto stayed calm. He had faced worst when sparring with Zeref. More than once he had faced Zeref's killing intent, as a part of training of course. He could still remember the first time Zeref used it on him. He barely lasted a few seconds before completely passing out because of the fear

Zabuza's was not bad, but Naruto wasn't going to falter just because of it

Mito wasn't managing it that good though. The young red-head was already trembling, her violet eyes were wide in fear, and she was even biting her lower lip hard, almost to the point of drawing blood. She was scared. She had never faced something like this. She had never faced someone like this. He was going to kill her

Of course Naruto noticed this, and even though he could honestly don't care, he knew he couldn't let her like this. At this point fighting was probably their only option. They could try to escape, but that would be hard, especially with Mito paralyzed in fear. Naruto was never one for emotional speeches, but he was going to have to make an exception for this one

"Mito" Naruto's voice showed nothing but determination and calm, his eyes still looking directly at Zabuza, but his call was enough for Mito to look at him "Pull yourself together or we won't be able to get out of this one." and then he did look at Mito straight at her eyes and gave her nod "If we work together we can deal with this situation. We're a team after all. I need you to be strong now, Mito" Naruto could feel the irony in all this. A few minutes ago he was telling her how there was nothing between them, and now he was telling her that he needed her

At hearing her Nii-san's words Mito's confidence raised up. She swallowed and ten released a calming breath before giving him a nod. If her Nii-san needed her then she was not going to fail him.

Never again

Zabuza's expression remained the same, but on the inside he was actually a little impressed in the blonde gaki. He was able to sustain his killing intent and help his teammate to do the same

This was not going to be a team fight though

"I have to admit that I'm curious. Why did you attack us, Zabuza-san?" asked Naruto calmly. The young blonde had many questions in his head. He refused to believe that this was just a coincidence. Zabuza must have come here for a specific reason. Was he targeting Tazuna and his family, so he decided to eliminate Tazuna's bodyguards first? That was probably, but it would also meant that whoever wanted Tazuna dead and Nami under their control had hired missing Nin

And that was never good, especially if one of them was someone like Zabuza Momochi

"Do I need a reason? Maybe I just like to cut little wanna be ninjas like you. You shouldn't worry about my reasons" Zabuza removed the sword from the tree with one hand, making it look like if was as light as feather, and then pointed it directly at Naruto "The thing you should worry is which limb is my sword going to cut first!"

Both Naruto and Mito were more than ready for whatever Zabuza did. They would have to fight. Expecting reinforcement was probably futile. Their senseis were gone and Menma and Sasuki had no clue of where they were. They could try to escape, but running away from someone like Zabuza was not going to be easy unless someone stayed to act as a diversion

That gave Naruto an idea. He could distract Zabuza long enough for her to search for help. Maybe Kakashi and Anko had already returned from wherever they went. Just when Naruto was about to say his plan to Mito he was silenced by Zabuza's next statement

"Haku, deal with the girl" and with that Zabuza appeared just in front of Naruto, his sword already going down in order to cut the blonde in half. Said blonde was barely able to dodge by jumping to the right, making Zabuza stand between him and Mito

Right now Naruto's mind was going a mile per second. Did he really just say Haku? But, that was impossible! There was no way that the Haku he knows, that the kind girl he had been meeting for a week was with Zabuza...right?

Naruto would have going all day thinking about that, but the current situation made him unable to do so since as soon as he dodged Zabuza's first attack the Kiri missing nin was upon him again, his Kubikiribōchō moving in an arc from right to left, ready to cut Naruto in half

The young blonde managed to avoid the attack by jumping just in time. As soon as he did that he channeled his magic into his lungs, ready to go for the offensive for once

**_"Rairyu no Hōkō_****_(Lighting Dragon's Roar)"_** Naruto's lightning spell went directly from his mouth to Zabuza, and Naruto believed that from this distance he wouldn't be able to dodge it.

He was kind of right there. Zabuza didn't dodge the spell. He merely raised his sword and put it between the attack and him. As soon as the blue lightning beam impacted the sword, it looked like the sword was actually absorbing the spell, which of course made Naruto stop with the attack and look at Zabuza's sword, the Kubikiribōchō, in something akin to awe

'That thing just negated my spell, but how? It should be impossible' thought Naruto, noticing that the sword had no damage on it, and that Zabuza wasn't showing surprise at all about this development.

Zabuza once again dashed towards Naruto, but this time the blonde was ready to meet him. Naruto charged both his arms with his **_Yami no Maho (Dark Magic)_** and gave it just one purpose on his mind.

Just like he expected two blades like form of darkness appeared on the low side of his arm, going from his wrist to his elbow. The blades were curved, and were completely black with a purple outline.

Naruto met Zabuza's down cut with his created blades, putting his arms in front of his. The impact actually made a little crater were Naruto was standing, and like he feared Zabuza's sword actually started eating his **_Yami no Maho (Dark Magic)_**, forcing Naruto to pump more magic just so that the blades wouldn't disappear, of course if he stayed too much in this state he would end up without magic, which meant he had to act fast

Which was easier said than done, considering that Zabuza was pressing his sword with all of his strength against him

Naruto overcharged his blades with magic and using his strength he managed to push Zabuza off him and create a distance between them. Just after that Naruto made five Kage Bunshins. Said clones ran directly at Zabuza, but this attack did not surprise the sword-user at all, who looked more than ready to cut every single one of them

Sadly for him as soon as the clones got close enough they actually exploded. The explosion resonated everywhere and created a curtain of smoke big enough for Naruto to use as a diversion to make a run for it. He needed to make a plan, fast. The fact that Zabuza's sword had the impossible ability to absorb magic made this fight just a lot harder that it was

He wasn't the only one meeting a hard foe though

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile, with Mito_

The young red-head had been separated from her Nii-san as soon as the fight started. When Zabuza attacked Naruto she was more than ready to help him, but she was stopped by another individual, this one with black hair tied in a bun and wearing an ANBU mask, who started throwing senbu needles at her

She was able to dodge the majority of them but she was still hit by more than a few. Luckily for her the Kyubi inside of her made this wounds heal a lot faster than normal, so she was sill more than ready for this fight

Right now Mito was standing in front of the person that attacked her who, if what Zabuza yelled was correct, was named Haku. Mito wanted to do nothing more but to run and help her Nii-san fight Zabuza, but this Haku person wasn't stopped every tried she did to run to where her Nii-san and Zabuza had ran to fight

**_"Suiton: Teppōdama (Water Release: Gunshot)!"_** yelled Mito after doing the necessary hand seals, throwing a bullet of water from her mouth directly at Haku, who jumped backwards while doing some hand seals just before the just hit her

Mito thought that she just had hit the mark, but when she saw that her jutsu had just hit a tree she tensed again, since Haku had just disappeared. Mito turned around fast as soon as she sensed something on her back, and she was right. Just behind her was a big mirror made of ice. Mito would have commented on how beautiful it was, but she was forced back when, from the mirror, multiple senbon needles were shot directly at her

Mito wasn't able to dodge, so she just used her arms to block as much as she could so that they didn't hit a vital point. It was after that that Mito saw Haku walking out of the mirror, more needles ready on her hand. The young red-head was going to move but she found herself trapped, or to be more specific her feets were trapped on ice.

'What kind of jutsu are these? I have never heard of ice jutsu!' thought Mito before using **_Kawarimi no jutsu (Body Replacement Technique)_** in order to escape her ice shackles and the needles that Haku just threw at her.

From a tree Mito created twenty Kage Bunshins. Said clones took out the katana they had in storage seal on their wrist and went directly at Haku. Mito thought that these clones were going to be a good enough distraction for her to go and find her Nii-san

Sadly for her she was proven wrong when Haku destroyed every clone in a matter of seconds, her speed making her able to do such a deed. Mito was forced to jump out of the tree she was in or else she would have been pierced by Haku's Senbon again, but as soon as she touched the ground her katana clashed with Haku's senbon, which was in her hand

While one of her hand held the senbon Haku was using against Mito's sword, the other hand was completely free, and with that one Haku started doing one-handed seals, making Mito's eyes go wide in surprise by her opponent skills

"**_Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishō_****_(Secret Technique: Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death)_**!" said Haku before multiple water needles were formed around her and Mito. Haku then jumped backwards, allowing the needles to go directly at Mito, but the young red-head managed to avoid the jutsu by jumping out of its range just before it hit her

It was becoming more obvious to Mito that she wouldn't be able to go and help her Nii-san until she defeated Haku, who was doing her best to stop Mito from leaving

She was going to have to defeat her fast then. There was no way she was going to let this person to get between her and her Nii-san safety

She wasn't going to give this bitch any mercy!

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile, with Naruto_

The young blonde was now standing with his back on a tree, doing his best to detect Zabuza.

He had thought about a way to deal with the Kiri missing Nin. He just needed to deal with his sword, but right now he was waiting for the attack that was sure to come, after all the sudden mist that had appeared everywhere was definitely not something normal, and he knew Zabuza was an expert of silence killing, so it was better to stay in guard at every time

Naruto wasn't able to dodge the attack though, since the tree that was on his back, and his whole body too, were cut in half by one clean slice of Zabuza's sword, who decided to attack from behind the tree, after all his sword could easily cut something like wood like it was butter

It wasn't that easy though, since just after his attack, Naruto's body turned into smoke, showing that it was nothing but a Kage Bunshin. Just after Zabuza realized this Naruto's spell was already travelling to hit Zabuza directly at his back.

The spell used was Naruto's **_Rairyū Hōtengeki_****_(Lighting Dragon's Heavenward Halberd)_**, and it was shot by the true Naruto, who was hiding in one of the trees. The powerful lightning spear seemed like it was going to hit Zabuza's back, but in a show of reflex Zabuza didn't even turn around, he just put his sword on his back and held his ground, letting his blade absorb the spell

"Tch, dammit" muttered Naruto in a low voice. The young blonde was just about to get out of his hiding spot since it was obvious Zabuza already knew where he was, but he was launched by force when a powerful kick hit him in the head. Naruto ended up falling into a clearing, blood going from his lower lip to his chin.

"You're not the only one that can play with clones, you know?" Said Zabuza to the now standing from of Naruto, clone standing by his side, which was responsible of the kick Naruto just received. The clone of Zabuza dashed at Naruto with his sword ready to cut, but Naruto moved faster and slashed the clone's torso just when he was going to slash him with his sword, using his **_Rairyu no Saiga (Lighting Dragon's Crushing Fang),_**turning the clone into nothing but water, showing that it was created by Zabuza's **_Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Clone Technique)_**

The real Zabuza took this chance to attack Naruto too, forcing Naruto to once again create blades on his arms to met Zabuza's sword. He could have used kunais, but he didn't want to have his weapon cut in half at the middle of the fight.

Using his blades made by his magic Naruto met Zabuza's cut head on. Every cut that Zabuza did Naruto would parry, block or dodge it, while trying to cut or punch Zabuza by himself. Naruto had the advantage of speed here, but Zabuza was without a doubt a hard opponent

Things became worse when Naruto finally noticed where they were. It was the clearing in which he met Haku. Not only that but they were already fighting in the lake. Naruto cursed in his mind, letting someone like Zabuza in water? He knew he was going to pay for it

Which he did

Zabuza gave Naruto a mighty swing of his sword, stronger that any other he had gave him before. Naruto was able to block it, but the strength behind it was enough to launch him back quite a bit. As soon as he got his bearings Naruto was able to see Zabuza doing some hand seals, his sword on his back.

The young blonde would have taken the chance to attack, but it was to late already, since Zabuza had already finished his jutsu

"**_Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique)!_**" and with that a gigantic and powerful stream of water from the lake was launched directly at Naruto. The young blonde knew that if it hit him he was as good as death, and dodging was impossible at this distance

He had to defend himself

Naruto put his palm on the water of the lake and used his **_Yami no Maho (Dark Magic)_** to create a completely black dome around him. It was a shield. In fact it was the only truly defensive spell that Naruto knew. The dome would be as strong a Naruto's will and the amount of magic he put on the spell, so knowing that Zabuza's jutsu was not weak at all Naruto put a lot of magic on the dome

Zabuza's jutsu hit the dome like expected, and Naruto could feel his shield crumbling under the power of the jutsu, so he put even more magic on it to make sure it sustain the power of the water technique

Finally Zabuza's jutsu reached a stop, and just a second later Naruto's dome disappeared, showing a panting Naruto. Normally creating that dome wasn't that hard, but damn he overcharged it with a lot of magic just to sustain that jutsu

The young blonde wasn't given the time to rest though, since as soon as his dome went off he was met by water, or to be more precise, a dome of water, courtesy of Zabuza, who was now standing just in front of him with one hand holding the dome

"This is my **_Suirō no Jutsu (Water Prison Technique)_**, so unless you know how to breath under water, you're now as good a dead" revealed a smirking Zabuza, although it was hard to tell with his bandages.

Normally a lot of people would panic in this kind of situation, but Naruto wasn't like that. He knew that every technique had a weakness, and he knew the weakness of this one. The one using it had to stay close to the water prison itself, and one of Zabuza's hands was grabbing the dome of water

A plan rapidly formed itself in Naruto's head. The young blonde started to fill all of his body with magic and as soon as he was ready he turned that magic into nothing but electricity and released it all at once.

Like he expected the dome, made of pure water, worked as an excellent conductive for his electricity, and Zabuza, who still had once hand grabbing the dome, was met with a powerful shock all over his body

Zabuza screamed in agony. The feeling of so much electricity running through his body making feel a lot of pain. The missing Nin was not able to hold the prison anymore, and was forced to release Naruto

Said blonde was not going to lose this chance. Zabuza body was twitching, and he was down to one knee. If the man had hold the dome for a few more seconds he would have been knocked out for good, but Naruto wouldn't give him a chance to recover

The young blonde rapidly charged his right arm with his **_Kaminari no_****_Metsuryū Mahō_****_(Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic)_**. Blue sparks appeared on his arm until it was completely covered in blue lightning. Then they electricity started to gain a form. Slowly but surely what could only be described as the head of a reptile, made of nothing but blue lightning with two dots yellow dots that acted like eyes, was formed around Naruto's whole arm

"**_Metsuryū Ōgi: Kaminari Kokuō: Raijin No Hihakai Kiba (Secret Dragon Slayer Art: Lightning King: Raijin's Destructive Fang)!"_** said Naruto before dashing towards the downed Zabuza, his right arm, which had the powerful spell, ready to destroy the Jounin.

However it seemed that Zabuza still had strength in him, since before the spell hit him he unsheathed his massive butcher knife sword and swinger at Naruto. The blonde, not having other choice, met the sword head on with his spell. The mouth of the dragon-like head of lightning that Naruto had around his right arm opened, showing razor-like fangs made of lightning and then closed as soon as the sword got in his mouth

The result was a battle of wills between Zabuza and his sword and Naruto and his spell. Sparks were flying all over the place from the spot in which Naruto's spell was holding Zabuza's sword. The young blonde could already feel the absorbing ability of the Kubikiribōchō acting up, but he was not going to lose now, so Naruto kept pushing, making the fangs of the dragon-like head burry themselves more in Zabuza's sword

Then something happened. Naruto didn't know what but out of the sudden in Zabuza's sword some weird marks appeared on Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō. The marks were completely black and Naruto had no idea what they were, but apparently Zabuza did since his eyes widened in shock at seeing them

Naruto didn't know that they meant, but at this point he had no option but to keep pushing, hoping that they wouldn't affect him badly. Then out of the sudden the marks disappeared, and Naruto stopped feeling the absorbing ability of the Kubikiribōchō disappeared. He wasn't going to look at the horse mouth though, so with a might yell Naruto pressed more his spell, the powerful fangs of the dragon's head making even more damage to the sword.

And then, with one last yell the Kubikiribōchō actually broke in pieces, shocking both Zabuza and Naruto, but the blonde's surprise was short. It was his chance now and he was not going to blow it

Naruto took advantage of Zabuza's shock and put his left palm on the water surface, the dragon-like head form of lightning still on his right arm. Then out of the water four black magic circles appeared in different sports, and from each circle what could be described a black claws shouted out of them, and grabbed hold of Zabuza's arms and legs, making the Jounin unable to move

Naruto then pointed the dragon's head directly at Zabuza's torso. The distance between them was just of a few meters, so this was definitely going to hurt the Kiri missing Nin, if not outright kill him, thought Naruto

"**_Metsuryū Ōgi: Kaminari Kokuō: Raijin no Kyōdaina Hōkō (Secret Dragon Slayer Art: Lightning King: Raijin's Mighty Roar)!"_** and with that the dragon-like head opened and from it a powerful lightning beam shot out of it, going directly at Zabuza's form

The Jounin could do nothing and when the spell hit him it dragged his body, to the shore of the lake. Naruto's spell finally disappeared, and Naruto walked towards the passed out form of Zabuza.

When he got there he was able to watch the damage that his attack made. Zabuza's torso had a big burn mark that completely covers it. His pants were turned into shreds and his body was twitching wildly. It was a miracle that the man was still alive, Naruto was sure that his attack would have killed him, especially at this distance

It was surprising though, the fact that Zabuza still had a hold of the hilt of his destroyed sword.

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Just before that, with Mito_

Mito was in trouble. No scratch that, Mito was in some serious shit right now. The young red-head found her trapped in a dome made of ice mirrors that her enemy, Haku, had made a while ago, and Mito had no idea how to go from this point

She had tried to escape, but every time she did, even with clones, she was met with Haku's superior speed and senbon, which was the reason Mito now looked like a porcupine.

The young red-head was truly tired. She had a lot of wounds all around her body, which of course hurt like hell. But she couldn't give up. Her Nii-san might still be in need for her help! She needed to end this

Now

Mito ended up using the last thing she ever wanted to depend on. The thing that made her so famous in her village. The thing that had, in her opinion, ruined her relationship with her Nii-san

The Kyubi

In an explosion of crimson Mito's body was now covered in red demonic chakra, courtesy of the Kyubi that was inside of her. Mito never had any real trouble in using his chakra. Menma neither, but she just didn't like it. She didn't want to depend on the fox to do anything. She wanted to be more than just a Jinchuriki

But right now her Nii-san's life was on the line, so she would do anything in her power to break free and help him

With the extra power that Mito gained it was easy to break the mirrors. Not even Haku's speed helped her escape the young red-head's fury. Mito, after breaking more than a few of her mirrors, was able to land a strong punch on her face, making Haku lose her ANBU mask and for the rest of the ice mirrors to disappear completely

So right now it was once again a staring contest between a red-eyes Mito and a mask less Haku. Mito's face showing anger and determination while Haku's expression stayed calm

Then, out of nowhere both girls heard a powerful roar, coming from the place Haku knew Zabuza was fighting Naruto. Mito didn't knew what had happened, but Haku's next words definitely surprised her even more than the roar

"It looks like our fight must be put to and end now, Mito-san. I just hope we never met again" and with those words Haku disappeared in a **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_**, letting a gaping Mito, who couldn't understand why her opponent had just left

Mito shocks her head to get rid of her thoughts. This was not the time thing about that, she had to find her Nii-san! Not knowing where he was, Mito decided to go to the place from where the roar had originated just before.

She just hoped her Nii-san was ok

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_With Naruto_

The tired form of the blonde apprentice of Zeref was right now thinking of what to do with Zabuza. On one part he could just kill him and be done with it, but he could also capture him. The reason for his attack was still unknown, so to capture and interrogate him was definitely a good choice

Naruto wasn't able to reach a decision though, since just a few moments after he started thinking a figure appeared just beside Zabuza. Someone that Naruto easily recognized even though she had new attire

"So it was really you... Haku" muttered Naruto, looking at the eyes of a person he considered a friend. Haku on turn just looked directly at Naruto, sadness obvious on the face of the two ninjas

"It was all an act then?! You just wanted to get information from me? Or were you planning to kill me when I had guard low?! Answer me, Haku!" yelled Naruto, the feeling of betrayal he had turning into rage. How could she? No, it was his fault, how could he have trusted someone so easily? Someone he just met a week ago for Kami's sake!

Then why did it hurt so much? She wasn't Sasuki or Zeref, so why was he so hurt by this?

Dammit

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun" said Haku with a sad smile. She wanted to tell him everything. She didn't like the look he was giving her. That look of betrayal. It might just have been a week but it was still special for Haku. She felt that Naruto was someone that could understand her, but now? He probably hated her

And why shouldn't he?

Not knowing what else to do Haku put a hand on Zabuza's barely alive body and left in **_Sunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)_**, not wanting to see someone that had become special to her with that expression.

Naruto wasn't able to stop her, not did he have the strength to do so anyway, so in the end it was just the blond standing there, still looking at the spot in which Haku was, and he would have stayed here for even more of a while if he wasn't taken back by a yelled "Nii-san!" and a tight hug, coming from none other than a relieved Mito

Mito had just arrived, and of course the first thing she saw was her Nii-san, so like a woman possessed she just ran directly towards him and engulfed him in a tight hug, her head on his chest since he was taller than him

It was at that moment that Mito felt the well toned body of her Nii-san. The young red-head actually blushed a little bit for the thoughts that appeared on her mind out of the sudden. This was hardly the time for that! Her Nii-san might be hurt; she had to check him on now!

Sadly for her Naruto just grabbed her shoulders and broke the hug rather forcibly. Mito was about to ask what is it but she was silenced by the cold glare Naruto was giving her. The young blonde was now definitely not in the mood for this crap from his former sister

Naruto just turned around and started walking. He was tired, angry and his body hurt like hell. He just wanted to rest right now, and forget the fact that someone he considered a friend was helping someone that tried to kill him

"Nii-san wait!" yelled Mito while trying to reach her brother, but she was stopped by his voice

"Don't, Mito" Naruto didn't even turn to address her, and his voice was as cold as tundra "I told you already to not call me that, we're not brother and sister, we're not family and we're only a team because your _father_ couldn't understand that neither. Get that on your tick head and stop wasting my time" and with that Naruto just left walking, never turning around

Never noticing how his words finally made Mito burst into tears

And of course, never noticing her sobbing form that stayed there, the words of the person she loved the most breaking her hearth in a million of pieces

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile, in Tazuna's bridge_

"Dammit!" yelled an angry Menma, his fist smacking the ground hard

The bridge itself looked definitely worst that when they got here. Multiple scorch marks, cuts and formations of crystal were lying around the place

Both Menma and Sasuki were there. One was punching the ground, angry at himself for losing a fight, while the other one was just looking at the result of their fight against the woman that attacked them, her new Sharingan displayed proudly

The two of them were attacked while they were escorting Tazuna to his bridge. As soon as they got there a woman made her presence known and without saying anything she just started attacking them

They managed to get all the workers and Tazuna himself out of harm before starting to fight the woman seriously, but they weren't able to do shit against her

They tried, they truly did. Menma had even used the Kyubi's chakra and Sasuki was using her Sharingan, which was unlocked at the middle of the fight, but they still weren't able to defeat the woman, in fact she dominated the fight completely

She could have even kill them more than once, but she didn't, almost like she was playing with them

That of course didn't set well with neither of them, but they couldn't do much. Their senseis were gone and their teammates were lost too, so they just fought until for some reason the woman just decided to leave, of course leaving more than one question on the mind of both Genins

Sasuki's Sharingan were just looking directly at the result of most of that woman's jutsu. A shard of pink crystal that was on her hand. She didn't even got the woman's name, but she knew something new now

**_Shōton_****_(Crystal Release)_**was a bitch to fight against

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

_Meanwhile, on a camp miles away from Nami_

The place that once was the camp of the criminals that wanted to take Nami for themselves was now nothing short of a war zone. Everything was destroyed and dead bodies were everywhere. Some where complete while others were nothing but ashes now

On the middle of the place were three people, two on one side and another one in the other. The duo was someone that everyone in Konoha knew, Kakashi Hatake and Anko Mitarashi

Both of them were panting hard. Kakashi had his Sharingan out and was glaring at the third individual while Anko was on her knees, a nasty burn present on her leg and was also glaring at the third person, who acted like the glares he was receiving were nothing

This third person had long and spiky blond hair that reaches down to his lower back. He had a psychotic grin on his face as he showed his teeth. His red pupils consisted of several concentric circles, which further enhance his crazed appearance. He was wearing a yellow and dark blue skirt-like armor with a red waist ribbon, and on his torso he was wearing a sleeveless jacket that was completely black with red clouds, but both the sleeves and the borders of the jacket looked like they were ripped off.

Just after Kakashi and Anko ended their mission they were suddenly attacked by this third individual without mercy. They had tried to fight him off but even though they were two of Konoha's top Jounin, this guy was still able to defeat the two of them without sustaining that much of damage

It didn't help either that he was able to actually _eat_ every **_Katon (Fire Release)_** jutsu that they used. This guy was the definition of monster. His speed was definitely at least Kage level, he was immune to fire, and he was able to create a destructive black fire that more than once almost killed them

And he did defeat them without even breaking a sweat. But right now they were in a stalemate. The crazy guy stopped attacking them as soon as a weird clay bird appeared on his shoulder.

The man cursed loudly about stupid people ruining his fun and about weak swordsman being defeated so fast to the bird, before giving the two Jounin a wide and crazy grin and then the bird flew towards them and exploded with a flash half the way

When the smoke disappeared and they were able to open their eyes the man was no more. He just disappeared like he was never there to begin with, but neither Anko nor Kakashi would forget any time soon the individual that defeated them so easily, or the last words he said, which just made his identity even more clearer. They had already a good guess of who he was, but it was now official

"I hope next time you will be able to give me a proper challenge, or you two will die by the flames of a god"

He was the S-rank criminal known as Zancrow, the **_Hinokami (Fire God)_**

**NoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoCNoC**

**And that was the Wave arc (if you can still call it like that). The biggest purpose of this fic was to show that Zeref is not alone and that he has not been losing his time neither, and to present both Haku and Zancrow, characters that will be really important for future arcs**

**I really don't think that writing fights is something I'm good at, but I hope that this one wasn't so bad.**

**Once again this chapter ended up becoming larger that I thought it would be, but oh well, next one is definitely going to be shorter, and will probably come out sooner**

**Just so you know, the only ones that are secured in the harem are FemSasuke (Sasuki), Haku, Fu and Mito. Beside that who knows? someone else might be while it also possible that I would just stay with four girls, it will depend if I manage to make the harem act real enough with this many girls**

**Once again thanks to everyone that fav, followed or reviewed this fic. And of course special thanks to Daxter2234 for helping me in some stuff with this cap.**

**Next Chapter: We see the start of the journey, not of Naruto, but of Zeref**


End file.
